Polish Women's Party Plays to Win

'The party of women. Poland is a woman.'
The Women's Party of Poland, a new political party founded by writer Manuela Gretkowska in response to the Polish government's threat to tighten already strict controls on abortion, has just released the above campaign poster ahead of national elections, featuring seven of its candidates, baring not just their skin but their seriousness of purpose.

The attention-grabbing move is making waves in staunchly Catholic Poland, where the ruling Kaczynski twins have pushed a fiercely conservative agenda.

"[The government's position on abortion] is the straw that broke the camel's back," [Gretkowska] said, adding that Poland's political scene was usually run by men for men.

…Ms Gretkowska hopes that the backing of some of Poland's most famous women could help push [the party] over the line and into parliament. If that happened, the Women's Party could become a key coalition partner after elections that none of the major parties looks like winning outright.

Its backing for equal pay for men and women as well as public funding for contraception would mark a major shift in Poland, where priests, not sexual-health practitioners usually set the political agenda.

It's extremely cool that there's even a Women's Party in Poland in the first place, no less that they're directly challenging the insane Kaczynski twins and the idea that Catholic priests are best suited to make reproductive decisions for women. But the remarkable audacity of these women to break through the male-only barrier in conservative Polish politics and call attention to their cause by publicly baring all is astounding. And Gretkowska will go to the mat with anyone who calls it exploitative.

"This poster is intended to shatter stereotypes in the anachronistic world of politics, which is more often dominated by uncommunicative men with their black tie outfits," she said.

"We are beautiful, nude, proud. We are true and sincere, body and soul. This is not pornography, there is nothing to see in terms of sex, our faces are intelligent, concerned, proud."

"We do not have our mouths open nor our eyes closed," she said.

Cheeky. (But damn insightful.)

I'm rooting for the Women's Party—and I hope they manage to storm into parliament, where their mouths will no longer have to remain shut and they can make their voices heard loud and clear.

[H/T Petulant.]