Sin, Skin, and Scandal: Pornography in 20th and 21st Century Poland and Russia

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Over the course of the last century, pornography has worried and confounded state leaders and moral reformers. What constituted pornography and how to censor it was a perennial question. And what commentary pornography could make on contemporary politics and culture was of major concern. This panel traces the transformation of meanings of pornography in Poland and Russia from the 1920s to contemporary times demonstrating just how elusive the illicit can be. Contrary to popular memory portraying the past as a pornography-free land, and illicit erotica as scandalous entertainment devoid of all political meanings, the papers in this panel examine the central role played by pornography in defining modernity, morality, and national identity in East Central Europe.

Michał Wilczewski examines cabaret as an example of “living pornography” in interwar Poland, demonstrating how such performances triggered concerns about morality and modernity and the future of a nascent Poland. Anna Dobrowolska then traces Polish communist authorities’ departure from previous strategies of moral censorship against illicit publications arguing that efforts to curb pornography in state-socialist Poland was a negotiated practice. Moving into the post-socialist era, Emily Lobenstein’s paper examines depictions of Imperial Russia and the Orthodox Church in Russian “skin and gun” magazines. Offering a visual analysis of the images in the magazines, she claims that they provide another example of the crises of the Russian nineties mapped onto women’s bodies, and can offer insight into the complex processes of nation-formation in the post-Soviet landscape.

Sub Unit

• Gender/LGBTQ Studies

Chair

• Randall James Rowe, U of Cincinnati

Papers

• Performance Anxiety: The Cabaret as 'Living Pornography' in Interwar Poland - Michał J Wilczewski, Northwestern U

• 'We have to do it wisely': The Censorship of Erotic Materials in Late Socialist Poland - Anna Dobrowolska, U of Basel (Switzerland)

Discussant

• Katya Motyl, Temple U