Heteronormativity refers to a rigorous social gender order in which the only assumed and accepted gender division is between male and female. Non-heteronormativity implies a loosening of the social gender dichotomy. Both the concepts of heteronormativity and non-heteronormativity in relation to children are rarely used, probably because of prevailing notions of an essentially asexual and unproblematically heteronormative, ‘natural’ process of gender identity acquisition in childhood. In this paper, I address the issue of gender and sexuality in childhood in academic discourses and analyse the construction of non-heteronormativity in selected children’s books. Impulses for the research are provided by critical readings of classical psychological and sociological developmental theories, as well as theories and research on the construction of gender identities in children rooted in the paradigm of social constructivism. The presentation of books created with children in mind, in which the authors point to a way of “taming” non-heteronormativity in the children’s world, may strengthen inclusive tendencies in educational activities and change the existing social gender order.

The Society and State in Terms of Their Functional Core as a Source of Problematic Issues in Social Life

Numerous attempts to improve social institutions are conventionally nominal or declarative. The latter indicates that essential changes in this perspective are possible only as a collateral consequence of exertion in another sphere. Respectively, the subject of the efforts should be the person as a whole, including their culture, nature and way of being through certain activities. The efficiency of the effort is determined, among other things, by good will and the intention of the subject to improve, whereas the formation of the intentions is conditioned by experiences as emotionally affected or idea-driven. Thus, properly formed ideas about social institutions are the beginning of a systematic transformation of the institutions themselves conceived to be as humane as possible – both comfortable and favorable for self-realization of the person in accordance with individual growth. The afore-mentioned ideas should be based on the establishment of the functional core in human existence, i.e. the ability to meet specific needs and expectations. At the same time, various assumptions about what the phenomena, institutions or processes might be, do not only distract from the effective activities, including fulfillment of assigned duties, but also trigger numerous conflicts. Therefore, this article is aimed at understanding the functional core, and the place and role of a number of key social institutions in human life. The impetus for this reconsideration has been a desire to overcome the conditionality of everyday life, based on assimilated mass stereotypes as the truth due to systemic social training, concealed behind education and upbringing. In addition, contextually, the article represents an unconventional viewpoint on the relationship between law and legislation, correlated with nature and the status of man. Since the transitory link between human nature and human status is sexuality based on the established hierarchy of values, the realization or leveling of human rights, therefore, is determined by the system of laws, which is formed in accordance with the hierarchy of the intrinsic values. At the same time, the system of laws or norms of social action and interaction shows the functioning of the state as a mechanism to limit or control the manifestation of radical evil, in other words, the tendency of man to give themselves the right of exception.

Sexuality in relationships during the first wave of COVID-19

Since the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions, such as lockdown and social distance) have had an impact on people’s lives. In this paper, our aim is to analyze how the lockdown (restrictions) in the early stage of the outbreak had an impact on sexuality in intimate relationships among the people in Poland and Japan. Online surveys were conducted in both countries. For this purpose, measurements were performed using the quantitative method with the use of an online questionnaire by Barbara Rothmüller adapted to the requirements of the study. Then comparisons were made between the Polish and Japanese groups. The results were compared to the existing knowledge in the field of the studied phenomenon. The observations made allowed to note several statistically significant differences between the studied groups and the areas in which the subjects from the Japanese and Polish samples did not differ significantly from each other. The observed differences mostly concerned the dynamic of the declared changes in the area of sexual behavior, which turned out to be higher in the Japanese group. The theoretical depiction refers to the differences between eastern and western cultures and the specificity of Poland and Japan, which, being culturally homogenous, function in the era of globalization.

Interpreting the voice of the body in women’s writing (on the material of the drama “The vagina monologues” by Eve Ensler)

The article presents an analysis of corporeality in the structure of postmodern philosophical thought and the conceptual foundations of feminist critique (an essay by L. Irigaray). Based on several samples of the late XX century women’s writing, the article traces the problems of women authors searching and finding the voice of their body, and emphasizes the importance of accepting and comprehending the bodily forms of their nature. The main motives and authorial intentions of I. Ensler’s drama “The Vagina Monologues” are considered, the writer’s view on women’s language and speech expression of their own corporeality and sexuality is argued. Methods. The research is based on general scientific methods of synthesis, analysis, selection and systematization of material. Elements of psychoanalytic, anthropological, hermeneutic approaches are partially applied. The tools of deconstructivism and feminist critique are used. We use information from linguistics, anthropology, cultural and gender studies for interdisciplinary consideration of corporeality in women’s writing. The descriptive method allows to present the subject of corporeality in separate works of fiction. Results. It was found that the analyzed phenomena of the description of the female body in women’s writing create a projection of corporeality as a dramatized existence with its inherent characteristics: balancing between speech and silence, permissiveness and condemnation, courage and shame; search for exact language means; selection of rhetoric and stylistics peculiar to this theme; attempts to establish a verbal connection between the voice and the body, fear of losing this connection. Ukrainian women’s writing of the late XX century is also mentioned in this context, particularly when regarding the expression of the concept of “body” in thematic and ideological terms. Conclusions. Analyzing some examples of women’s writing (scholarly – an essay by L. Irigaray, and artistic – a drama by I. Ensler), we summarize that their problem-thematic direction is determined by issues of the body capable of self-narration and self-representation in public space. Some elements of postmodern symbolism of body and corporeality are decoded, o-corporeal metaphors of women’s writing related to women’s freedom of choice are explained. Women’s writing is defined as a symbolic way of telling one’s own experiences of one’s own body.