Lykke Aresin

Lykke Aresin
Aresin in 1970
Born
Lykke Bauer

(1921-03-02)2 March 1921
Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt, German Reich
Died7 November 2011(2011-11-07) (aged 90)
Leipzig, Germany
Burial placeSüdfriedhof, Leipzig, Germany
Alma materUniversity of Jena
University of Göttingen
Employer(s)Medizinische Akademie Erfurt
Leipzig University Women's Clinic
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
Notable workSprechstunde des Vertrauens (1963)
SpouseNorbert Aresin (d. 1971)
Children2

Lykke Aresin (née Bauer, 2 March 1921 – 7 November 2011) was a German physician, sexologist and writer. She worked as Chief of Staff at the Leipzig University Women's Clinic and published works on sex and marital counselling. She campaigned against Paragraph 151 of the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which banned "unnatural desire" between men, supported transgender people in receiving medical and legal care and advocated for free contraception for East German women.

Family

Lykke Bauer was born on 2 March 1921 in Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt, German Reich.[1][2] Her father was Curt Bauer (1885–1968) and her mother was Olga Bauer (née Bachmann, 1889–1963).[3] Her family were of Danish descent.[4] Bauer married German physician Norbert Aresin (1911–1971) [de].[3]

Career

Aresin studied medicine at the University of Jena and the University of Göttingen.[4] She began her career as a specialist in neurology and psychiatry and a physician at the Medizinische Akademie Erfurt [de].[3]

When her husband was appointed as Director of the Leipzig University Women's Clinic in 1959, Aresin worked with him as a senior physician specialising in psychosomatic and sexual disorders in women[3] and studying ovulation.[5] By 1965, Aresin was Chief of Staff of the clinic.[6] The "Weimar-style" sexology clinic[6] was popular for its role in providing oral contraception and treatment of sexual dysfunction, with visitors recorded from across the German Democratic Republic (GDR).[7] In 1996, with her colleague Siegfried Schnabl, Aresin pushed for 252 marital and sexual counselling centres to be established across the country.[8]

Aresin contributed to over 200 scientific publications in her career.[9] Her 1963 book Sprechstunde des Vertrauens (Consultation Hour of Trust) explored marital counselling[10] and giving matter of fact advice about sex and preventing sexually transmitted diseases.[8] It also emphasised the imperative of professional confidentiality,[7] including if "abnormal sexual proclivities" (meaning homosexuality) were disclosed.[8]

Aresin wrote an article for judicial officials about the medical causes of marital conflicts, where she praised the work of the American sexologists Alfred Kinsey, William Masters and Virginia Johnson.[6] She attributed the decline of marriage and the family in East Germany as a symptom of capitalism or a lack of love between partners.[11]

In the 1970s, Aresin published two youth encyclopaedias: Junge Ehe (Young Marriage) and Jugend Zu Zweit (Youth in Two),[3] due to a "commitment to popular education."[9] She gave guest lectures in Cuba, for the World Health Organization (WHO),[3] and participated in conferences in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Japan for the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).[2][3][4] She was the IPPF's link to Eastern Europe.[12]

Aresin was an advocate of free contraception and abortions,[9][13] campaigning for the birth control pill to be available to East German women.[8] She did not support the full legalisation of abortion,[14] supporting the 1972 laws which abolished illegal abortions and their associated medical dangers for women.[15]

In the 1980s, Aresin campaigned against Paragraph 151 of the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic,[16] the "gay paragraph,"[4] which banned "unnatural desire" between men. The paragraph was overturned earlier in East Germany than in West Germany.[3] Aresin was a convenor of the 1985 conference on "The Psycho-Social Aspects of Homosexuality."[17] She also advocated for transgender people to receive medical and legal care.[18]

In 1990, Aresin was co-founder of the organisation Pro Familia Saxony, which she chaired until 1998.[3] She was a founding member of the Marriage and Family Section of the Society for Hygiene.[3] In 1996, she published Lexikon der Erotik with Kurt Starke.[3]

Death

Aresin died on 7 November 2011 in Leipzig, Saxony, aged 90.[1] She was buried at Südfriedhof in Leipzig.[3]

Select publications

  • Sprechstunde des Vertrauens (Consultation Hour of Trust), 1963[7][8]
  • Junge Ehe (Young Marriage)[4]
  • Jugend Zu Zweit (Youth in Two)[4]
  • Volk und Gesundheit (Sexual Medicine), 1983[3]
  • Lexikon für Humansexuologie (Lexicon for Human Sexuality), 1990[3]
  • Lexikon der Erotik (Lexicon of Eroticism), with Kurt Starke, 1996[3]

Legacy

In 2021, a commemorative plaque in Aresin's honour was unveiled in Leipzig.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Lykke Aresin (1921-2011)". Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde e.V. (ISGV) (in German). Archived from the original on 4 August 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Gedenktafel für international anerkannte Medizinerin Lykke Aresin". Magazin.uni-leipzig (in German). 8 November 2021. Archived from the original on 11 November 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Richter, Rolf (2014). "Aresin, Lykke (Prof. Dr. med. habil.; geborene Bauer) - Leipziger Frauenporträts". Stadt Leipzig (in German). Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Goerlich, Thomas M. "International anerkannte Vorkämpferin der Sexualwissenschaft" (PDF). Universität Leipzig, Alumni-Magazin (in German) (2012): 24. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  5. ^ David, Henry Philip (1970). Family Planning and Abortion in the Socialist Countries of Central and Eastern Europe: A Compendium of Observations and Readings. Population Council. p. 239.
  6. ^ a b c Harsch, Donna (2009), Penn, Shana; Massino, Jill (eds.), "Sex, Divorce, and Women's Waged Work: Private Lives and State Policy in the Early German Democratic Republic", Gender Politics and Everyday Life in State Socialist Eastern and Central Europe, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 97–113, doi:10.1057/9780230101579_7, ISBN 978-0-230-10157-9, retrieved 3 October 2025{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  7. ^ a b c Spector, Scott; Puff, Helmut; Herzog, Dagmar (1 July 2012). After The History of Sexuality: German Genealogies with and Beyond Foucault. Berghahn Books. pp. 233–234, 243. ISBN 978-0-85745-374-7.
  8. ^ a b c d e Harrison, Scott R. (17 April 2019). The state of belonging: Gay and lesbian activism in the German Democratic Republic and beyond, 1949-1989 (PhD thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. p. 40. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  9. ^ a b c "Interrupted Emancipation: Women and Work in East Germany". Orinoco Tribune. 22 March 2024. Archived from the original on 12 August 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  10. ^ Budde, Gunilla (20 December 2022). So fern, so nah: Die beiden deutschen Gesellschaften (1949-1989) (in German). Kohlhammer Verlag. p. 111. ISBN 978-3-17-033237-9.
  11. ^ Hallama, Peter; Rothstein, Marian (13 June 2023). "Socialist fatherhood in East Germany::between communist Utopia and anti-capitalist propaganda". Clio. Women, Gender, History. 57 (1): 93–110. ISSN 1252-7017.
  12. ^ Roesch, Claudia (15 November 2021). Wunschkinder: Eine transnationale Geschichte der Familienplanung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 16. ISBN 978-3-647-35697-6.
  13. ^ Roesch, Claudia (1 October 2022). "A Contested Pill: Transnational Controversies over Medical Abortion in Germany, France, and the United States". Journal of Contemporary History. 57 (4): 895–916. doi:10.1177/00220094221099850. ISSN 0022-0094.
  14. ^ Harsch, Donna (26 June 2018). Revenge of the Domestic: Women, the Family, and Communism in the German Democratic Republic. Princeton University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-691-19040-2.
  15. ^ Wessel, Andreas; Wessel, Anne E.; Wessel, Karl-Friedrich (2018). Erziehung - Bildung - Menschenbild: Dieter Kirchhöfer zum Gedenken (in German). Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH. p. 59. ISBN 978-3-8325-4709-7.
  16. ^ Schulze, Mandy; Hille, Julia; Albrecht, Peter-Georg (25 September 2023). Genese Ost: Transformationen der Sozialen Arbeit in Deutschland (in German). Verlag Barbara Budrich. p. 167. ISBN 978-3-8474-1847-4.
  17. ^ Outlook. Out/Look Foundation. 1989. p. 50.
  18. ^ Baumann, Franz (June 2023). "Die Betreuung transgeschlechtlicher Personen am Universitätsklinikum Leipzig und die Rolle Lykke Aresins zwischen 1960 und 2000". Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung (in German). 36 (2): 76–85. doi:10.1055/a-2076-8699. ISSN 0932-8114.
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