Lykke Aresin

Lykke Aresin (, 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. Her father was Curt Bauer (1885–1968) and her mother was Olga Bauer (, 1889–1963). Her family were of Danish descent. Bauer married German physician Norbert Aresin (1911–1971) [ de]. By 1965, Aresin was Chief of Staff of the clinic. The "Weimar-style" sexology clinic In 1996, with her colleague Siegfried Schnabl, Aresin pushed for 252 marital and sexual counselling centres to be established across the country.

Aresin contributed to over 200 scientific publications in her career. Her 1963 book Sprechstunde des Vertrauens (Consultation Hour of Trust) explored marital counselling and giving matter of fact advice about sex and preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

In the 1970s, Aresin published two youth encyclopaedias: Junge Ehe (Young Marriage) and Jugend Zu Zweit (Youth in Two),

Aresin was an advocate of free contraception and abortions, campaigning for the birth control pill to be available to East German women. supporting the 1972 laws which abolished illegal abortions and their associated medical dangers for women.

In the 1980s, Aresin campaigned against Paragraph 151 of the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic, the "gay paragraph," She also advocated for transgender people to receive medical and legal care.

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

Death Aresin died on 7 November 2011 in Leipzig, Saxony, aged 90. She was buried at Südfriedhof in Leipzig.

Select publications

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

Legacy In 2021, a commemorative plaque in Aresin's honour was unveiled in Leipzig.