Background Article “Feminine Virtues” and “Untamable Masculinity” Sex Education for Polish Youth, as it was and as it is TodayHistorically, Sex Education has primarily been a subject that teaches important basic knowledge about human reproduction and health. However, by making both indirect and direct statements on gender roles, it also acts as a lens through which we can examine underlying societal values and images that...Elisa-Maria Hiemer
Background Article Dreams Beyond the Cow Pasture What “Memoir Competitions” Tell us About Life as a Young Person in Rural Regions of the People's Republic of Poland The People's Republic of Poland brought radical change to the lives of children and young people living in the Polish countryside. Though many still had the task of herding cows, their expectations and visions for the future were now very different. In texts written and submitted as part of...Laura Clarissa Loew
Background Article Flirting on the ice German-Baltic Memoirs About Ice-Skating in the 19th and Early 20th CenturyBy the 19th century, ice skating had developed into a fashionable pastime for the upper classes. The skating rink became an important public space, where social hierarchies, moral values and notions of gender manifested themselves. In the Baltic states too, skating was an integral part of the lives...Anja Wilhelmi
Background Article A Russian Aristocratic Childhood set out in Three Columns Adolphe Pascault's diary about Iurii Samarin's upbringing in the early 19th centuryA diary discovered in the archives gives a detailed insight into the aristocratic parenting practices of 19th century Russia showing that helicopter parenting is not just a modern phenomenon.Katharina Kucher
