Poland’s Two Views of Pornography

Politicians and activists in Poland are debating whether to tighten restrictions on pornography, which has been easily available in this predominantly Catholic country since the 1989 collapse of communism.

“A battle for Poland is being fought today,” Zdzislaw Pupa, a conservative lawmaker, declared before Parliament’s lower house last month approved a tough measure with Europe’s most explicit legal definition of hard-core pornography.

Roman Catholic Cardinal Jozef Glemp called the action “a step toward civilization.”

The proposed law, under consideration by the Senate, includes in the definition of hard-core pornography any depiction of “sexual organs during sexual intercourse.” Pornography involving children younger than 18, violence or animals is also in the hard-core category, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison for its production or dissemination.

Under current law, children older than 15 can legally appear in erotic productions.

“We expect that this legislative process will end in success, the president will sign it, and this law will be in force,” Antoni Zieba of the Polish Federation of Pro-Life Movements said at a Catholic-sponsored news conference by five lay organizations backing the legislation. “I hope this definition of the especially drastic form of pornography will make it possible for the courts and prosecutors to act as they should.”

Conservative anger over pornography has been heightened by what many see as a breakdown of social order and family values in the post-Communist period. But critics of the legislation say it offers no solution to the failure of police and courts to enforce existing anti-pornography laws.

“There is no legislative Viagra for the impotence of the executive branch,” Czeslaw Bielecki told fellow lawmakers in Parliament’s lower house.

Some question the wisdom of writing such an explicit definition of hard-core pornography into law.

“Are we supposed to have the only penal code in Europe--and maybe in the world--which defines the idea of pornography in such a vivid way?” Deputy Justice Minister Janusz Niemcewicz asked during debate.

Though passage of a tough anti-pornography law by Parliament appears likely, it is far less certain that President Aleksander Kwasniewski, known for liberal social views, would sign it.

Poland’s debate echoes arguments in the U.S. and elsewhere over whether pornography promotes criminal behavior.

“Some people think if you fight pornography, you fight freedom,” Ewa Kowalewska of the Forum of Polish Women said at the Catholic-sponsored news conference. “But you have to know what pornography leads to. Pornography in a sense is like an instruction for rape and violence.”

But Bozena Wawrzewska of Rzeczpospolita, one of the nation’s leading newspapers, countered that many Poles often feel fear--but not of pornography.

“This is a fear of being hit on the head in broad daylight, of having one’s wallet stolen, of finding one’s apartment broken into after returning home from work, or one’s car broken into to steal a car radio,” she wrote in a column. “Among those threats, there is no fear of the fact that in the nearby kiosk one can buy a pornographic publication. . . . It probably would be bad if police, instead of going after criminals, would start chasing after those spreading pornography.”

Pawel Siarkiewicz, co-owner of International Fun Center, an erotic products distributor, estimated annual sales of pornographic magazines and videos in Poland at about $70 million. The proposed law would launch “a pornographic underground,” and the state would lose tax revenues, he said.

Backers of the legislation insist that cracking down on pornography will cut other crime.

“Limiting pornography always also limits violence,” Kowalewska said. “There will always be a group that says there is no threat, and a group that wants to make money from it. But the question is: What is the view of the majority?”