Sexual Liberation, Socialist Style: Communist Czechoslovakia and the Science of Desire, 1945-1989

This is the first account of sexual liberation in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. Kateřina Liskov reveals how, in the case of Czechoslovakia, important aspects of sexuality were already liberated during the 1950s - abortion was legalized, homosexuality decriminalized, the female orgasm came into experts' focus - and all that was underscored by an emphasis on gender equality. However, with the coming of Normalization, gender discourses reversed and women were to aspire to be caring mothers and docile wives. Good sex was to cement a lasting marriage and family. In contrast to the usual Western accounts highlighting the importance of social movements to sexual and gender freedom, here we discover, through the analysis of rich archival sources covering forty years of state socialism in Czechoslovakia, how experts, including sexologists, demographers, and psychologists, advised the state on population development, marriage and the family to shape the most intimate aspects of people's lives.

Author: Kateřina Lisková
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 05/07/2020
Pages: 293
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.62d
ISBN13: 9781108440844
ISBN10: 1108440843
BISAC Categories:
- History | Eastern Europe | General
- Psychology | Human Sexuality (see also Social Science | Human Sexuality)

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