Contexts

http://ctx.sagepub.com/ A Chinese-led Global Sexual Revolution

James Farrer Contexts 2008 7: 58 DOI: 10.1525/ctx.2008.7.3.58 The online version of this article can be found at: http://ctx.sagepub.com/content/7/3/58.citation

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culture REVIEWS Its unlikely China will ever openly reconsider Maos legacy in the fashion that the Soviet Union disavowed Joseph Stalins legacy under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. For 29 years of economic reform the Chinese model has been to gradually adopt new systems, laws, and policies without overtly overturning the past. In many cases Chinese leaders have actively employed the images of the past to act as symbolic handmaidens of the new policies. And with his seemingly authoritarian stances on a number of issues, many have worried that President Hu Jintao would leave his once-liberal image behind, showing instead his true colors as the leader of Chinas new authoritarianism. But under President Hu we have seen a funthe politics of the party system. And, in the end, President Hu, with his quiet authoritarianism, has had the political

The Chinese government is no longer ambivalent about embracing the capitalist class.
damental transformation of private property rights and the right to form independent unions, two issues that have been central to criticism of Chinas political reform process. As reformminded elites have emphasized the need for a rational system of economic development, they have also been altering will to close the history books on the Maoist era.
Doug Guthrie is in both the management and sociology departments at New York University. He studies leadership, corporate governance, and the economic reforms in China.

a chinese-led global sexual revolution

by james farrer
studies (xingxue), among them Pan Suiming, Liu Dalin, Li Yinhe from the mainland, Wu Minlun from Hong Kong, and Yan Hanwen and Josephine Ho from Taiwan. Other participants included physicians, activists, artists, columnists, bloggers, journalists, sex educators, family planning ofcials, and a range of private sexual entrepreneurs. In addition to academic papers and the typical bright red banners welcoming guests, diverse and conicting trends in the emerging public sexual culture in China were on display: commercialization, regime-critical activism, nationalism, transnationalism, and what might be called the polymorphous democracy of online sexual politicsa freewheeling debate on sexual ethics with few limits on the sexual topics but also little consensus on the goals and rules of debate. The sexology forum was held in a rustic mountainside private conference venue on the outskirts of the major southern city of Shenzhen, convenient for travelers yet distant enough from the city to avoid unwanted attention from authorities. Between sessions, attendees wandered among the tropical ower gardens and at night held parties and private meetings in occluded hillside cabins. I was the only white foreigner in attendance. Most of the other roughly 200 participants were Chinese citizens, with a large contingent of scholars and students from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Although the forum wasnt advertised widely, it seems anyone who applied to attend and paid the modest fee was welcome. Talks during the three-day meeting covered such topics as Research on relationships between female customers of male sex workers, The question of sexual rights in erotic arts, Sex, commodities and branding, Sex education in schools for the children of migrant workers, LGBT, sex and gender, and A comparison of sexuality in China and the West. The old guard of Chinese sexual studies evangelized for the historic cause of Chinese sexology. In a far-ranging speech that can only be described as giddy, sex researcher Ruan Fangfu of Taiwans Shu-te University outlined why China would lead the 21st century phase of a global sexual studies revolution (which, in this genealogy, rst began in Germany in the 19th century and moved to the United States in the

World Association of Chinese Sexologists inaugural meeting January 2008 Chinese sexual activists and scholars will lead the next wave of a global sexual revolution. So saith the experts at the inaugural meeting of the World Association of Chinese Sexologists, held in Shenzhen earlier this year. Subtitled the Sex Studies Climactic Forum, the conference gift presented to each speaker represented the double entendre: a crystal globe with a wedge carved out, and a small ball inserted at the top. As the sculptures designer explained, the small ball represented both the clitoris and China, which if stimulated could lead to a climactic sexual revolution throughout the world. Intended as an open discussion forum rather than academic conference, the meeting included as keynote speakers the leading lights of Chinese sex

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Contexts, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 5860. ISSN 1536-5042, electronic ISSN 1537-6052. 2008 American Sociological Association. All rights reserved. For permission to photocopy or reproduce see http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/ctx.2008.7.3.58.
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20th): Americas failure to continue in its leadership because of its rising sexual conservatism, the Chinese governments deep involvement in sexual issues through the government family planning system, and the growing importance of China in world affairs and the sheer size of its population. Chinas potential contributions to sexual studies were less clearly outlined but include traditions like Chinese medicine as well as more contemporary trends like secularism and pragmatism regarding sexual choices (in contrast to the religious and ideological tendencies increasingly prominent in many other societies). Despite sharp differences of opinion on the desired direction of Chinas sexual culture, most everyone seemed titillated by the idea of a Chinese-led sexual revolution, even if China was perceived as behind the West in the actual present. The appeal to Chinas national destiny is a powerful and flexible device in Chinese political rhetoric today, both to legitimate the ruling regime and paper over divergences of opinion, experience, and opportunity among citizens. The unifying uses of nationalist rhetoric were frequent in this meeting. Well-known sexual radicals like Beijing sociologist Li and traditionalists like Shanghai sociologist Liu all voiced their support for the vision of a specifically Chinese vision of sexuality. The vague but familiar idea of Chinese people (huaren) could even be used to encompass Hong Kong and Taiwanese scholars, who had very different conceptions of their political relationships to the mainland, as well as very different perspectives on sexual politics. References to a specific Chinese sexuality tempered discussions critical of the regime by focusing on particularly native contributions to discussions of sexual rights. Prominent Beijing Peoples University professor Pan spoke passionately for a libertarian program of sexual rights reform in China, including the idea that sexual commerce in China,
A Chinese man looks at the life-size sex toy at the International Adult Toys and Reproductive Health Exhibition in Shanghai in 2004 during the rst ever ofcially sanctioned exhibition of adult toys.

prostitution included, should not be regulated by the state. Instead, he argued that China already has in place a viable independent entrepreneur (getihu) model that could work to the advantage of sex workers without requiring the state to regulate sexual commerce. Chinese Womens University law professor Zhao Hejun presented the most systematic argument for sexual rights in China: That it should be based upon the idea that sexual rights are a basic human right. While more than one speaker advocated acceptance of the World Association of Sexologys Declaration of Sexual Rights, they could also wrap their claims in nationalist

China, the World Association of Chinese Sexologists was established in Hong Kong with membership that included prominent Hong Kong and Taiwan activists. The Ford Foundation in large part paid for the program as part of its funding of research and discussions of sexual issues in China. An important political basis of Chinas emerging sexual civil society lies in its engagement with organizations and participants from countries around the world. The participation of Taiwanese scholars and activists was especially important in dening the political tone of discussions. Mainland participants listened in rapt attention as Taiwanese activist and scholar Ho discussed the progress of the movement for sex worker rights on the island, showing slides of public demonstrations and parades that would still be impossible in Chinese cities. Another speaker from Taiwan described the struggles for rights in the BDSM (bondage/discipline/sadism/ masochism) community within an increasingly conservative legal environment. Taiwanese speakers provided a model for forms of social activism and

The small ball represented both the clitoris and China, which if stimulated could lead to a climactic sexual revolution throughout the world.
colors by proclaiming Chinese leadership in developing sexual rights. Not all voices were content to promote China as a model. Scholars criticized police abuse of sex workers, restrictions on sexual representations in the media, and the harsh prison sentences recently given to individuals convicted of sexual commerce on the Internet. Such critical, and sustained, public discussion of Chinese government policies is rare in China, especially in forums with such varied and relatively unregulated participation. Despite the Greater China nationalist rhetoric and the focus on mainland government lobbying that are still difcult to pull off of in mainland China but appeal to emerging groups of sexual activists. Taiwanese speakers also provided models for conservative activism, including Christian involvement, in sexual rights issues. Yan, a sex educator in Taiwan, described how he won over government officials to his more conservative and conventional views on sexual education. Taiwan and Hong Kong participants in mainland sexual rights discussions thus represent diverse possibilities of sexual activism. Merchants of sexual commodities and

Photo by LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images

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culture REVIEWS services also played prominent roles. These included manufacturers and marketers of products like cooling underwear to increase male fertility and suppliers to the rapidly growing market for BDSM sex toys. Not all merchants were convinced of the political or moral correctness of their goods. One woman who had recently started selling handcuffs and leather goods wished she could be selling something more beautiful and ennobling, but explained this is where the market is hot now. A still larger group of participants included professional sex counselors and therapists. Some worked with government social work programs but most engaged in private counseling practices and wanted information and to improve skills. Others aimed to commercialize on writing about the conference through their blogs and websites. Indeed, the most quickly growing form of sexual commerce seemed to be sexual services and entertainment on the commercial Internet rather than material goods or personalized services. Despite the presence of academics from prestigious universitiesand famous public scholars such as Lia 27year-old woman from the provincial city of Nanning with only a community-college education made perhaps the biggest splash at the conference. It seems that all of you are just sexual theorists, said Yang Chun during a Q&A. I am a sexual practitioner How many of the men in this room know how to use their nger or tongue to give a woman an orgasm? When no one responded, she repeated her question, and for emphasis flicked the air with her nger and tongue moving back and forth. Eventually a few mens hands were in the air, but other members of the audience began cursing her, and one prominent male sexologist grumbled that he would do her up on the stage if thats what she wanted. Yang wasnt fazed by the criticism. She quickly dispensed a box of her name cards, which included a nude, lowerbody photograph she proudly said was taken of her. She later explained that she had worked in fashion retail but discovered she loved sex and hoped to make a career teaching women how to have orgasms and men how to give orgasms to women. 95 percent of Chinese men are no good, she added. She also wanted to promote her sex blog as means to becoming famous. Afterward she plans to go to the United States or Taiwan to study sexseemed to be loosened in this open forum, which was given over to commercial self-promotion (which too met audience skepticism). Ultimately, this forum is part of a larger social movement shaping and reshaping sexual culture in the worlds most populous society. A movement some even see as a revolution. As National Peoples Political Consultative Congress Representative and Chinese Academy of

The general lack of or uncertainty about decorum exposed the shaky boundary lines of such public discussions of sexuality in China.
ology. More than a few male participants seemed interested in her offers of private lessons. The general lack of or uncertainty about decorum exposed the shaky boundaries lines of such public discussions of sexuality in China. With ofcial government voices muted, and to some extent disregarded, the commercialization of sexual discourse opens up Chinese sexual civil society to an irreverent and polymorphous democracy of opinions that was less evident in previous events similar to this one. Not only were state policies called into question, but so were the authority and experiences of the academic luminaries who gave the keynote addresses. Less loudly than Yang but equally disruptive of scholarly decorum, another autodidact sexologist, Huang Can, used the forum to promote his book. Culture of the Vulva included hundreds of blackand-white photos of vulvas and essays purporting a universal cultural and social history of the female sex organ. More in the commercial mainstream, Ding Li, a recent college graduate from Beijing, described her popular website of sexual advice for youth. Representing a successful online business model, she garnered more attention than many famous scholars. The authority of science and scholarship Social Sciences professor Li asked at a sexology meeting a few years earlier at Peoples University in Beijing, Are we standing on the side of revolution or the side of counter-revolution? I am on the side of revolution, and I believe that everyone here is this room is also on the side of revolution. Our common purpose is through our individual efforts to make the common people of China also choose the side of revolution! Although she was referring to a new sexual revolution, the sweeping rhetoric invoked that of the earlier cultural revolution. The political irony was not lost on the middle-aged academics in the audience, who responded with laughter and resounding applause. At the climactic forum in Shenzhen, however, a much more diverse and less overtly confrontational style of sexual politics comes to the fore. It is one characterized more by self-promotion, selfreflection, and self-irony, and based largely on commercial Internet sites. With their greater tolerance for diverse ideas and indulgences, these unruly and hybrid forms of sexual politics and commerce in China may indeed offer the world alternative versions of sexual modernity.
James Farrer is in the graduate school of global studies at Sophia University in Tokyo. He is the author of Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform

in Shanghai.

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