Towards new political subjectivity. Abortion protests, social reproduction theory and democratisation

Abstract

The article introduces the concept of social reproduction and the perspective of reproductive justice into the deliberation on contemporary feminist activism in Poland. In the theoretical part it provides an overview of the social reproduction theory that locates contemporary struggles for women’s rights within the debate on the capitalist production and the processes of creating and sustaining life. It also discusses the applicability of reproductive justice theory, which analyses the intersectional reproductive agency within existing micro and macro power relations, in the Polish context. At the empirical level it uses results of the qualitative study with feminist and queer activists, conducted by Feminist Fund (the institution that financially supports activism by women, girls, non-binary, trans and queer activists) between 2019–2021. The analysis of 628 grant applications to the Fund, and 6 focus groups interviews with feminist and queer activists indicates that contemporary social mobilizations on behalf of women and LGBTQ+ communities within and beyond street protests, represent new political subjectivities. They are local and intersectional, and they centre on social reproduction, making a link between the women’s strikes of 2016 and 2020, as well as the earlier efforts at participatory and inclusive democracy in Poland after 1992.