Gender and EU membership in PolandIn the period before and immediately after Poland's accession to the European Union (01.05.2004) the Polish media was overflowing with “discussions on type". Random jokes about "natural differences between the sexes" were heard on the radio (in fact, a new station (FM 94), was founded in 2002 with "real men" in mind). Almost every event discussed on the evening news could be commented on with “this is how women are” or “men can't help but be men”. Magazines and newspapers provided an abundance of images of virile men and feminine women, as well as deviations from those norms (particularly drag queens at gay pride parades in Western Europe). What follows is a reading of a selection of gender-focused cover stories published by three mainstream political weeklies – Polityka, Wprost and the Polish edition of Newsweek between the spring of 2003 and the summer of 2004. My aim is to suggest a link between the intensity of “gender talk” in the media and Poland's accession to the EU. The three weeklies ask a series of more or less concerned questions about gender roles, sexuality and reproduction in Poland. Here is a representative example of cover stories: “What does a man want today? To remain themselves, men increasingly take on femininity” (Newsweek, 04.21.02); “She works, he doesn't. How the labor market shock destabilized the traditional Polish family” (Newsweek, 06.01.2003); “How to raise a child on weekends. Working mothers besieged by good advice” (Polityka, 02.07.2004); “Special protection for women. Who needs the government's gender equality programme? ” (Newsweek, 09.07.2004); “More freedom – but what about sex? New research on the erotic life of Polish women” (Wpro...... half of the document ......n, the consolidation of traditional gender ideology is quite typical for societies in transition. WORKS CITED Fuzara, Malgorzata . “Nowy kontrakt plci.”: M. Fuszara (ed.), Kobiety w Polsce na przelomie wiekow . “Rozsta6 sic, z Polsk4”, Gazeta Wyborcza, 1.10.2004 more in a future paradise: nationalism, gender and race”. ed.), Becoming national. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 1996. 259-284Scott, Joan “French Universalism in Crisis.” and Nation. London, Sage, 1998. Polish political weeklies (2002-2004): Newsweek, Polityka, Wprost..