The paper examines the changes during state socialism in Czechoslovakia in the understanding of t... more The paper examines the changes during state socialism in Czechoslovakia in the understanding of the post-reproductive sexuality of women, focusing on the network of medical experts and shifts in expertise, which gave rise to a ‘new kind of person’: sexually active climacteric women. Analyzing the medical press, we show how Czechoslovak experts moved from an exclusive focus on women of reproductive age toward seeing climacteric women first in connection with their working capacities and gynecological health, and over time more as sexual beings. We trace the changes in the broader societal discourse and the shifts in (primarily gynecological) expertise that facilitated a gradual rejection of the stereotypical image of ‘fading’ women and made the emergence of sexually active climacteric women possible. Moreover, we highlight the role of transnational knowledge circulation. We demonstrate how expertise was transformed after Czechoslovak experts became acquainted with the work of the US sexologists Masters and Johnson in the second half of the 1960s. As the systems of knowledge realigned, expertise shifted toward emphasizing the existence and importance of sexual pleasure for (post-)climacteric women. Pointing to similar developments in neighboring countries, we highlight the importance of comparative approaches to state-socialist sexualities.
Ceska republika je v soucasne době tercem celosvětove kritiky, neboť se u nas v lecbě sexualnich ... more Ceska republika je v soucasne době tercem celosvětove kritiky, neboť se u nas v lecbě sexualnich deviaci použiva mimo jine terapeuticka kastrace. Zatimco cesti sexuologove daný zakrok obhajuji a považuji za nepostradatelný, stale castěji se ozývaji jine expertni skupiny, ktere proti uvedene metodě vystupuji. Diplomova prace proto pomoci sociologie expertizy a diskurzivni analýzy zjisťuje, jak se u nas proměňovalo pojeti a vnimani sexualniho devianta a jak se souvztažně k tomu vyvijely a ustavovaly i lecebne postupy pro něj urcene. Jak u nas vypada lecba sexualnich deviaci v soucasnosti a kdo a proc ma možnost o tom rozhodovat. A konecně, jak cesti sexuologove dospěli ke svemu přesvědceni o vhodnosti indikace kastrace u sexualnich deviantů, a proc se jine expertni skupiny mohou od uvedeneho postupu naopak odvracet. Nasledně doklada, jak se v důsledku změny institucionalni matice a s vynořenim nových expertnich skupin proměnila identita sexualniho devianta a jemu urcených terapeutický...
The Czech Republic holds one of the highest numbers of men labelled as sexual delinquents worldwi... more The Czech Republic holds one of the highest numbers of men labelled as sexual delinquents worldwide who have undergone the irreversible process of surgical castration-a policy that has elicited strong international criticism. Nevertheless, Czech sexology has not changed its attitude towards 'therapeutic castration', which remains widely accepted and practised. In this paper, we analyse the negotiation of expertise supporting castration and demonstrate how the changes in institutional matrices and networks of experts (Eyal 2013) have impacted the categorisation of patients and the methods of treatment. Our research shows the great importance of historical development that tied Czech sexology with the state. Indeed, Czech sexology has been profoundly institutionalised since the early 1970s. In accordance with the state politics of that era, officially named Normalisation, sexology focused on sexual deviants and began creating a treatment programme that included therapeutic castration. This practice, the aim of which is to protect society from sex offenders, has changed little since. We argue that it is the expert-state alliance that enables Czech sexologists to preserve the status quo in the treatment of sexual delinquents despite international pressure. Our research underscores the continuity in medical practice despite the regime change in 1989. With regard to previous scholarship on state-socialist Czechoslovakia, we argue that it was the medical mainstream that developed and sustained disciplining and punitive features.
In their article, Bělehradová and Lišková take up the important issue of climacteric and post-men... more In their article, Bělehradová and Lišková take up the important issue of climacteric and post-menopausal women and their sexual pleasure under state socialism in Czechoslovakia. This innovative article sits at the crossroads of anthropology, sociology, and medical history and traces the transnational knowledge networks that informed women's health discourses in the mid-twentieth century. The committee was particular impressed by the way the authors used research on women's sexuality from three Central European countries, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, but then also documented how translations of work by American sexologists affected state socialist medical conversations. Giving a thorough background on women's sexual and reproductive health, the authors examine four Czechoslovak medical journals to trace the developing interests of experts in aging women as a new kind of sexual being. The range of sources, the clear organization and writing, and the convincing argument about the need for more such comparative research made this article stand out as superlative.
The paper examines the changes during state socialism in Czechoslovakia in the understanding of t... more The paper examines the changes during state socialism in Czechoslovakia in the understanding of the post-reproductive sexuality of women, focusing on the network of medical experts and shifts in expertise, which gave rise to a ‘new kind of person’: sexually active climacteric women. Analyzing the medical press, we show how Czechoslovak experts moved from an exclusive focus on women of reproductive age toward seeing climacteric women first in connection with their working capacities and gynecological health, and over time more as sexual beings. We trace the changes in the broader societal discourse and the shifts in (primarily gynecological) expertise that facilitated a gradual rejection of the stereotypical image of ‘fading’ women and made the emergence of sexually active climacteric women possible. Moreover, we highlight the role of transnational knowledge circulation. We demonstrate how expertise was transformed after Czechoslovak experts became acquainted with the work of the US sexologists Masters and Johnson in the second half of the 1960s. As the systems of knowledge realigned, expertise shifted toward emphasizing the existence and importance of sexual pleasure for (post-)climacteric women. Pointing to similar developments in neighboring countries, we highlight the importance of comparative approaches to state-socialist sexualities.
Ceska republika je v soucasne době tercem celosvětove kritiky, neboť se u nas v lecbě sexualnich ... more Ceska republika je v soucasne době tercem celosvětove kritiky, neboť se u nas v lecbě sexualnich deviaci použiva mimo jine terapeuticka kastrace. Zatimco cesti sexuologove daný zakrok obhajuji a považuji za nepostradatelný, stale castěji se ozývaji jine expertni skupiny, ktere proti uvedene metodě vystupuji. Diplomova prace proto pomoci sociologie expertizy a diskurzivni analýzy zjisťuje, jak se u nas proměňovalo pojeti a vnimani sexualniho devianta a jak se souvztažně k tomu vyvijely a ustavovaly i lecebne postupy pro něj urcene. Jak u nas vypada lecba sexualnich deviaci v soucasnosti a kdo a proc ma možnost o tom rozhodovat. A konecně, jak cesti sexuologove dospěli ke svemu přesvědceni o vhodnosti indikace kastrace u sexualnich deviantů, a proc se jine expertni skupiny mohou od uvedeneho postupu naopak odvracet. Nasledně doklada, jak se v důsledku změny institucionalni matice a s vynořenim nových expertnich skupin proměnila identita sexualniho devianta a jemu urcených terapeutický...
The Czech Republic holds one of the highest numbers of men labelled as sexual delinquents worldwi... more The Czech Republic holds one of the highest numbers of men labelled as sexual delinquents worldwide who have undergone the irreversible process of surgical castration-a policy that has elicited strong international criticism. Nevertheless, Czech sexology has not changed its attitude towards 'therapeutic castration', which remains widely accepted and practised. In this paper, we analyse the negotiation of expertise supporting castration and demonstrate how the changes in institutional matrices and networks of experts (Eyal 2013) have impacted the categorisation of patients and the methods of treatment. Our research shows the great importance of historical development that tied Czech sexology with the state. Indeed, Czech sexology has been profoundly institutionalised since the early 1970s. In accordance with the state politics of that era, officially named Normalisation, sexology focused on sexual deviants and began creating a treatment programme that included therapeutic castration. This practice, the aim of which is to protect society from sex offenders, has changed little since. We argue that it is the expert-state alliance that enables Czech sexologists to preserve the status quo in the treatment of sexual delinquents despite international pressure. Our research underscores the continuity in medical practice despite the regime change in 1989. With regard to previous scholarship on state-socialist Czechoslovakia, we argue that it was the medical mainstream that developed and sustained disciplining and punitive features.
In their article, Bělehradová and Lišková take up the important issue of climacteric and post-men... more In their article, Bělehradová and Lišková take up the important issue of climacteric and post-menopausal women and their sexual pleasure under state socialism in Czechoslovakia. This innovative article sits at the crossroads of anthropology, sociology, and medical history and traces the transnational knowledge networks that informed women's health discourses in the mid-twentieth century. The committee was particular impressed by the way the authors used research on women's sexuality from three Central European countries, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, but then also documented how translations of work by American sexologists affected state socialist medical conversations. Giving a thorough background on women's sexual and reproductive health, the authors examine four Czechoslovak medical journals to trace the developing interests of experts in aging women as a new kind of sexual being. The range of sources, the clear organization and writing, and the convincing argument about the need for more such comparative research made this article stand out as superlative.
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