"There is no sex life in the United States. S. S. R.
"Lyudmila Ivanova means that there is no sex on Soviet television.
But the infamous statement she blurted out in the 1986 video
The Connection program between Boston and Leningrad women has distorted the understanding of the intimate life behind the Iron Curtain for more than 30 years.
George Orwell's 1984 continues the myth of imagining a totalitarian state where the party prohibits non-reproductive sex because the pleasure of physical intimacy should not be in love with the older brother
Many Americans still read the novel in high school as an introduction to the Stalinist nightmare.
But there is a book that eliminates these pervasive stereotypes: intimate men and women, the most successful socialist Handbook of Oriental Group.
The book was published in 1969 and despite the restrictions on clear material, it showed us, about 20, away from the forbidden bedroom gymnastics
The socialist countries of the century actively encouraged.
On the cover of the Bulgarian replica I found a nude couple kissing behind the giant fig leaves.
When I flip through cheap newsprint pages in simple black --and-
The white picture, I was surprised to find that under the rule of an authoritarian regime such a clear book could be published and distributed so widely.
Originally written in German by psychologist and family consultant Sigfried Schnabl, "intimate men and women" were translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Slovak, Russian, in addition to the Bulgarian,
Between 1970 and 1990, 18 versions appeared in East Germany alone, one of the best two
Selling books of all time in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
"Close men and women" have also entered the living room of neighboring West Germany and are on sale in half of Cuba's world.
In the Czech Republic at that time, four editions were printed between 1975 and 1985.
In a society that prohibits all pornographic and pornographic texts, this book openly discusses everything from adolescence to pregnancy to happiness.
"His peace of mind, no.
Historian Dagmar Herzog explained: "The nonsense advice to promote the response of female orgasms is at the heart of his wider campaign to confirm the fun and importance of sexual intercourse of the opposite sex, as well as the potential reproductive consequences.
"In countries that suffered severe demographic losses during World War II, more labor is needed to complete the plan for rapid industrial development, for conservative and predominantly peasant societies, it is absolutely revolutionary to advocate entertainment rather than intimacy.
According to the Bulgarian novelist geolgi gosbodinov, at that time, almost every Bulgarian family could find a copy of "close men and women" hidden in the upper and back rows of the library.
"Every child climbs up a chair to find it as soon as the parent goes out," a 54-year-oldyear-
My old Bulgarian friend explained to me in May.
"This is the only book like this in the country.
The first version of Bulgaria appeared in 1979, and all 160,000 copies were sold out soon.
The government medical and sports publishing house, which specializes in publishing medical textbooks and scientific literature, published intimate men and women.
The choice of this publisher demonstrates the government's belief that accurate information about human sexuality will improve the mental and physical health of the population, especially young people.
Seeing the high demand of its citizens, prices fell, publishers produced another 210,000 in 1981 and another 15,000 in 1985.
For a small country of about eight people.
5 million. as the national publishing enterprises are constantly hindered by the shortage of paper, this is a large-scale printing activity.
So what is the appeal of the book, other than the obvious?
This is about solving social and psychological problems for the author.
Schnabl explained in his introduction that the unhappiness in the bedroom may lead to "inferiority complex, frustration, [development"and]
He sees his job as a public service, explaining that a satisfying sex life must be "a reality for every citizen of our country ", the task is "professional training and science for those who are asked to help others.
On the first five pages of the book, Schnabl presents statistics on the self
Reported on the experience of male and female orgasms in the GDR and told his readers that socialist morality requires a more equitable distribution of happiness in the bedroom.
Although the East German Examiner initially only allowed simple line drawings, later versions included an anatomical correct map of the female anatomy, including the exact location of the clit and the different stages of the clit in the wake-up
Schnabl also warns people to slow down and make it easier for their partner to get along emotionally.
What makes this book so special is Schnabl's practical experience as a family therapist and his extensive understanding of human sexuality.
"Sex is as much as people," he told German magazine Stern on his 80 th birthday in 2007.
So did Schnabl.
Sexual attraction is natural, and his work has made it acceptable for more and more gay people in GDR.
From our current perspective, the book contains a number of flaws, including the fact that it focuses almost exclusively on sexual behavior of the opposite sex, ignoring a broader social and political context --
A party country in eastern Germany.
Schnabl argues that given why the Politburo allowed his books to be printed so widely, "people don't come up with stupid political ideas when they are happy in bed with each other.
He speculated that sex was a cheap way for the Politburo to keep the masses calm.
Communist leaders may also hope that the official sex book will calm the black market for smuggling Western pornography.
Most socialist countries regard pornography as a demeaning to women.
They believe that the commercial nature of sex is a manifestation of the fall of the bourgeoisie.
In the Bulgarian version of "close men and women", an embarrassing preface by the director of the Institute of Health Education explained that, the government publishes the book because it has a responsibility to "socially imitate" appropriate sexual behavior so as not to allow young people to collect "incompetent information" through illegal channels.
But the motives of the state do not diminish the social importance of the book in the lives of ordinary people.
Not only did Schnabl affirm the entertainment;
He also teaches men and women (but mostly men)
How to be a more generous and technically capable lover.
Today, historians have discovered the diversity of gender.
Education practices throughout the former Eastern European countries.
Poles have their own popular sex book The Art of Love, which sold more than 7 million copies after its first publication in 1978.
The Yugoslav people actually have sex magazines, including Chik for young people, and the Yugoslav version of Playboy Start.
While Soviet citizens live in a more conservative culture, East Germans and Czechs live in sex --
Those positive countries where leaders believe that improving intimacy is a unique benefit of the lives of non-capitalist societies.
Most of the differences are reflected in
The attitude of socialist culture towards human sexuality and the relative balance between conservative rural areas and rural areas
Every country has a more liberal city ethic.
But the "self" model of Yugoslavia of the Non-Aligned Movement
"Managing socialism" also allows greater political freedom than people who are harder --
Countries of the Warsaw Convention.
So there is a lot of sex happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain, although the openness of public discussion varies greatly from place to place and from time to time.
But even in the ordinary Soviet Union, people found their own ways of entertainment.
In fact, when the BBC tracked down lyudira Ivanova in July 2017, the woman, who is said to have no sex in the Soviet Union, was living happily with her fifth husband.