Anja Rubik accused of promoting ‘depravity’ for sex education campaign
Polish supermodel Anja Rubik is accused of promoting ‘depravity’ in her homeland after releasing YouTube sex education classes with cartoon genitalia and ‘sexting’ advice for young people
- Anja Rubik is part of the Sexedpl campaign which aims to raise awareness surrounding ‘taboo’ topics of sex, gender and equality in Poland
- The leader of the ruling PiS party Jaroslaw Kaczynski has slammed the campaign
- He calls it an ‘attack’ on families and children at a party congress this month
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Poland is in the midst of a ‘culture war’ over sex education – as the Catholic ruling party squares up to one of the most recognizable names in the world of fashion, supermodel Anja Rubik.
Rubik, who has fronted campaigns for Gucci, Chloé and Fendi, has angered the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party with a series of videos designed to education young Poles on ‘everything we should know, but are often ashamed to ask’.
The videos cover a range of topics that are considered highly taboo in Poland, including masturbation, ‘sexting’, gay rights, sexually transmitted diseases and the female orgasm.
Supermodel Anja Rubik is part of the #Sexedpl campaign, which aims to break taboos and educate Polish young people on topics such as masturbation, sexting and contraception
Rubik posts them on her YouTube channel, Sexedpl, which has amassed more than 54,000 subscribers since it launched in October 2017.
The 35-year-old favourite of the late Karl Lagerfeld has also published a book – already a bestseller that has shifted 130,000 copies.
The campaign’s website describes the book as offering guidance on ‘the issues that are too often swept under the carpet in a modern, substantive and at the same time friendly way’, yet it has been banned in several schools.
But in deeply religious Poland, where sexual education is – when taught at all – billed as ‘preparation for family life’, supporters of the right-wing government have accused Rubik of ‘sexualising’ children and fostering ‘depravity’.
Rubik (left) has drawn the ire of the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski (right) who has declared the campaign to be an ‘attack’ on families and children
In particular the Sexedpl videos, which feature cartoons of genitalia and are often inspired by Netflix’s candid comedy-drama Sex Education, are deemed a provocation.
The leader of the PiS party Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said earlier this month that he would fend off any ‘attacks’ on families and children amid the campaign to promote sexual education classes, which he described as ‘unbelievable’.
‘It’s aimed at undermining a natural identity of boys and girls,’ Kaczynski told a party congress in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland on March 9.
Since its election victory in 2015, PiS has campaigned strongly for ‘Catholic values’ and, The Times reports, recommended textbooks which call embryos ‘unborn children’ and warn against the dangers of using condoms.
Rubik, who was originally from Rzeszow but now lives in New York and Paris, is front and centre of the campaign. But it remains to be seen whether ordinary Poles will support it.
According to Philipp Fritz in Die Welt, people are reluctant to advocate for sexual education of young people in Poland, as this could mean exposing themselves to accusations by government officials that they are ‘promoting pedophilia’.
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