Search

The aim of the article was to examine the impact of existing taboos on the use of sexual terminology in non-scientific discourse. The study was carried out on the basis of 111 popular science books for children and youth devoted to sexuality and published in Poland in the 1945-2018 period. We collected a corpus of sexual vocabulary related to external male and female genital organs and to sexual intercourse. The analysis showed that these notions are expressed by both sexological terms and their everyday language equivalents. In the majority of books, at least one term appears, which indicates that terminology is seen as appropriate means of naming taboo concepts in communication with children and teenagers. However, since more than half of the analysed publications also use common-vocabulary expressions in addition to terminology, we conclude that the authors consider terminology as insufficient by itself. The strategies used in the selection of sexual vocabulary depend on at least five combined factors: the type of taboo involved, the time of publication of the book, the country of origin, the ideology presented in the book, and the age of the reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses sex education books for children and young people published in Poland in 1945-2018. After defining the ideological profile of 111 examined publications as conservative, moderately conservative, neutral, moderately liberal or liberal, the authors compare the whole set of books translated from other languages with the whole set of books by Polish authors, taking into account the date of publication and the age of the intended reader. The analysis shows that translations differ from texts written originally in Polish, because they promote other values. Polish books, especially those published before 1989, are usually neutral or moderately conservative, while translations mostly propagate moderately liberal or liberal ideologies. There is also a close correlation between those ideological categories and the age of the reader: books for the youngest audience are ideologically charged to the smallest degree, and the ideological content increases with the age of the reader. This seems to be related to the growing percentage of translations in the older age groups. Translations, which usually reflect the liberal ideology, fill a gap in Polish culture by complementing or replacing the conservative sex education available at school and by encouraging Polish authors to write sex education books expressing similar views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]