Policies on sexuality in China
Chinese society has long been both patriarchal and feudal, partly owing to Confucianism, which treats women as subordinate to men. In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party took power and began building a socialist new China. This article examines how policy in China has affected people’s sexual lives since 1949.
In the name of liberating women from sexual exploitation by men, the Communist Party shut down brothels, imprisoned pimps and trained prostitutes in skills such as sewing. The sex industry was demolished in one night and a few years later the Party claimed the entire country was free from sexually transmitted diseases.
The first law issued by the Communist Party was the Marriage Law in 1950. By raising women’s status and promoting sexual morality — for example, forbidding forced marriage and proclaiming husbands and wives equal in marriage — the Party popularised and legitimised its authority.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), all literature and other cultural forms were tightly regulated. The only shows allowed to be performed were the eight ‘Model Theatre pieces’, none of which featured sexual or even blood relationships. In these shows, the only families presented were formed on the basis of revolution. Relationships were purely revolutionary rather and sexual, romantic or reproductive.
Marital sex was hidden and pre- or extra-marital sex outlawed. People engaging in heterosexual extra-marital sex were named, shamed and ostracised. Homosexuals were treated by physicians, imprisoned, sent to labour camps, or sentenced to death. Bisexuality was punished, and transgender people and children born out of wedlock were unheard of.
When the Economic Reform started in the late 1970s, the sex industry boomed and attitudes towards pre- and extra-marital sex became more liberal. In 1980, the Marriage Law was revised to make divorce easier and allowable on the basis of emotional incompatibility. The ‘One Child Policy’ began in the 1980s and, as a result, abortion became widely used as a birth control method. Marriage and sex were no longer primarily for reproduction.
When AIDS first arrived in 1985, the government built the so-called ‘AIDS Great Wall’ to stop imports of blood products and to test foreigners for HIV at borders. When this failed to stop the spread of the epidemic, drug users and sex workers were arrested and forcibly tested. However, safer sex information was not available.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in 2003. It was a turning point for opening up health-related information to the public in order to stop rumours and regain government credibility, both nationally and internationally. AIDS was officially recognised as a sexually transmitted disease and information about safer sex began to be provided.
The health authorities only began to work with gay communities and sex workers in combating the HIV epidemic after the SARS crisis. This enabled the recognition of different sexual desires and the provision of health information to vulnerable groups.
However, cultural beliefs do not always follow policies and policies can be inconsistent. Police raided the 2005 Beijing gay film festival and paraded sex workers and clients through the streets of Shenzhen City in 2006. Nevertheless, health officials work with gay communities to prevent HIV and AIDS in many cities; sex workers are accepted by many people; and transgender people can have sex changes performed at hospitals and registered on their birth certificates.
The current government’s policies do acknowledge certain desires and lifestyles, but more research and facilitation of movements on sexuality could assist further policy change.
Xiaopei He
Pink Space Culture and Development Centre
happygirliam@gmail.com
www.pinkspace.com.cn
In the name of liberating women from sexual exploitation by men, the Communist Party shut down brothels, imprisoned pimps and trained prostitutes in skills such as sewing. The sex industry was demolished in one night and a few years later the Party claimed the entire country was free from sexually transmitted diseases.
The first law issued by the Communist Party was the Marriage Law in 1950. By raising women’s status and promoting sexual morality — for example, forbidding forced marriage and proclaiming husbands and wives equal in marriage — the Party popularised and legitimised its authority.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), all literature and other cultural forms were tightly regulated. The only shows allowed to be performed were the eight ‘Model Theatre pieces’, none of which featured sexual or even blood relationships. In these shows, the only families presented were formed on the basis of revolution. Relationships were purely revolutionary rather and sexual, romantic or reproductive.
Marital sex was hidden and pre- or extra-marital sex outlawed. People engaging in heterosexual extra-marital sex were named, shamed and ostracised. Homosexuals were treated by physicians, imprisoned, sent to labour camps, or sentenced to death. Bisexuality was punished, and transgender people and children born out of wedlock were unheard of.
When the Economic Reform started in the late 1970s, the sex industry boomed and attitudes towards pre- and extra-marital sex became more liberal. In 1980, the Marriage Law was revised to make divorce easier and allowable on the basis of emotional incompatibility. The ‘One Child Policy’ began in the 1980s and, as a result, abortion became widely used as a birth control method. Marriage and sex were no longer primarily for reproduction.
When AIDS first arrived in 1985, the government built the so-called ‘AIDS Great Wall’ to stop imports of blood products and to test foreigners for HIV at borders. When this failed to stop the spread of the epidemic, drug users and sex workers were arrested and forcibly tested. However, safer sex information was not available.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in 2003. It was a turning point for opening up health-related information to the public in order to stop rumours and regain government credibility, both nationally and internationally. AIDS was officially recognised as a sexually transmitted disease and information about safer sex began to be provided.
The health authorities only began to work with gay communities and sex workers in combating the HIV epidemic after the SARS crisis. This enabled the recognition of different sexual desires and the provision of health information to vulnerable groups.
However, cultural beliefs do not always follow policies and policies can be inconsistent. Police raided the 2005 Beijing gay film festival and paraded sex workers and clients through the streets of Shenzhen City in 2006. Nevertheless, health officials work with gay communities to prevent HIV and AIDS in many cities; sex workers are accepted by many people; and transgender people can have sex changes performed at hospitals and registered on their birth certificates.
The current government’s policies do acknowledge certain desires and lifestyles, but more research and facilitation of movements on sexuality could assist further policy change.
Xiaopei He
Pink Space Culture and Development Centre
happygirliam@gmail.com
www.pinkspace.com.cn
