Lectures

Forming Sex and Gender in Central Europe

While they might appear like natural and unchanging categories, sex and gender are profoundly shaped by social, political and cultural conditions. This course will show the ways in which sexuality and gender were constructed in postwar Central Europe. Invited lecturers – sociologists, historians, and anthropologists – will present their own research on state-socialist family, love, sexual pleasure, childcare, abortion, normative and stigmatized sexualities, and thus students will learn about the developments in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Russia.

We want to introduce international students to the topic of gender and sexuality in contemporary European societies while focusing on the region of East Central Europe and highlighting socio-historical developments.