The issue of “… -free zone” and sensitivity to discrimination

Katarzyna Liber-Kwiecińska

Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5621-5826


Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine how Polish people perceive the expressions child-free zone and LGBT ideology-free zone, what meanings they attribute to them, and what emotions these expressions evoke. Two hypotheses were adopted in the study. According to the first one, the formulation referring to children is perceived differently than the analogous phrase referring to LGBT individuals; according to the other one, the aforementioned expressions would be perceived differently by childless individuals than by parents or caregivers. The research was conducted through an anonymous online survey which involved a total of 1,270 respondents. The collected data were subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis, including two statistical tests: the Mann-
-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks. The results indicate a high level of agreement among the respondents regarding their assessment of the expression LGBT ideology-free zone, whereas perceptions of the phrase child-free zone differed depending on whether the participants were parents of young children (aged
0–10), childless, or parents of older children.


Keywords:

adultism, ageism, homophobia, LGBT ideology-free zone, child-free zone, discrimination


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Published
2026-09-30

Cited by

Liber-Kwiecińska, K. (2026). The issue of “… -free zone” and sensitivity to discrimination. Papers in Linguistics, 28(3), 291–312. https://doi.org/10.31648/pj.12945

Katarzyna Liber-Kwiecińska 
Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5621-5826