IB HUMAN SEXUALITY
CHINESE SEXUAL PRACTICES
Dr ML Ng
Psychiatry
Fri 20-09-02
Main Factors
- Chinese tradition
- Westernization
- Modernization
Chinese tradition
What is Chinese?
- Multiple origin
- Wide and different geography
- Minority tribes
- Ethnic groups
- Long history
Sexual Philosophy of the Hans
- Fertility cult ® Nui-wor; Fu-Hsi (god of animals); The Yin-Yang doctrine
- Confucius ® Book of Rites; Book of Odes
- Mencius
- Taoism
- Buddhism
- Sexual relations in the Warring period ® Heterosexual contacts; Sex-bonding patterns
- Taoism as a religion ® The Sui-Nu Ching
Contents of Su-Nui Ching
- Introduction - sex, enjoyment and health
- General principles of sexual health
- Petting and teasing methods
- Signs of female sexual arousal
- Criteria of a good erection
- Nine principle ways of SI
- Eight special SI methods of therapeutic value
- Seven diseases due to improper sexual practices
- The benefits of semen conservation
- Optimal SI frequency at diff. age
- Environments for SI
- Best ways to conceive a healthy baby
- Characteristics of a healthy fertile woman
- Special recipes for impotence and vaginal discharge
- Circulation of the Tao of sex
- Tang poems
- Subsequent medical literature
- Other Chinese literary classics
- Archaeological findings ® Ma-Huang Dui (1975); Macoa cave relics; Paintings and other relics Debasement of the Tao of sex
Neo-Confucianism
- What was suppressed ® Female sexuality; Middle-class sexuality
- What was not suppressed ® Prostitution; Homosexuality; Sadomasochism
Practices of the minority
- Wei-on Kiangsu - wife for rent
- Chikiang - marry brother widow
- Hans - child bride
- Hakka, Hunan: male/female colleagues
- Miao: Zuo Mei (PMS)
- Tibetan: monogamy, polygamy, polyandry, trail & temporary marriages
Foreign observations
- B. Russell (1928) ® Aim at enjoyment, morality not impulse checking or interfering.
- J.J. Matignon (1936) ® Indifferent to homosexuality and male prostitutes
- Van Gulik (1961) ® Remarkably healthy in general
- V.L. Bullough (1976) ® Fairly open attitude, sex not something to be feared or regarded as sinful. A private matter.
- J. Needham (1977) ® Immensely skilled in happy variation and mutual donation
Effects of Chinese tradition
- Expressive ® Naturalistic view, tolerance on variations, enjoyment AND procreation, practical attitude
- Suppressive and regulatory ® Social context, health, reproductive, male centered, myths, ignorance, neo-Confucianism
Western influence
- Christianity ® Monogamy, sacramental and procreational sex, against masturbation/ contraception
- Romanticism ® Subjective, ideal, rituals, mystical overtones
- Liberalism ® Individual rights and freedom, tolerance of variations
- Capitalism ® Consumption orientated, middle class philosophy
- Modernization
- Suppressive ® Monogamy, superiority of spiritual to physical love, sex guilt, courtship rituals, moralization of sexual styles
Expressive ® Right of self-expression and satisfaction diversification of sexual styles
Modernization
Modernization ¹ Westernization
- Modern Medicine ® Life span, general health, contraception, treatment of VD, knowledge, sex therapy, sex change, artificial insemination etc.
- Technology ® Traveling, communication, mass media, leisure, quality of living
- Social structure ® Commercial mobility; Nuclear family and parental authority; Late marriages; Emotional investment
Findings in modern Chinese
- Hong Kong
- China ® City/villages
- Taiwan
- Overseas Chinese
Conclusion
- High variation in attitudes and practice
- Low in knowledge
- More permissive, tolerative and naturalistic
- More pragmatic
- Fast changing
- Better future