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ICA-19-11827
Perception of Media Sex, Sexual Awareness
and Attitudes Towards Pornographic Material in China
Introduction
A sex revolution is said to be quietly changing the behaviors of the Chinese
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. Sex
and reproduction, which were intrinsically linked traditionally in the Chinese society, are
now two separate entities, thanks to the one-child policy. Playing a role in this revolution
is the mass media in the country, which began to open up to western ideas and portrayals
of sexuality in the early 80’s. The rediscovery of sexual freedom during this period of
economic reform has contributed to the growth of the commercial sex industry.
Nightclubs, gay bars complete with cross-dressing customers, pornographers, san pei
ladies (escorts), and concubines have flooded China (Ren, 1999). Consequentially, moral
standards regarding sex, sexuality and pornography, which used to be enforced by street
committees and public opinions in China, became nothing more than a set of values held
by an individual. Against this backdrop, we wonder in what ways the media contribute to
sexual awareness in today’s Chinese youths and what attitudes they help foster toward
sex and pornography.
Traditionally, sex was considered the evil of all evils in China, especially during
the draconian years of the Mao reign. Sexual pleasure, homosexuality and pornography
were never treated as serious subjects of scholarly pursuit. Studies of sex and sexuality
were rather sporadic (Renaud, Byers & Pan, 1997,). To our knowledge, studies linking
the Chinese media and sexual awareness and attitudes were almost non-existent (Treise,
Walsh-Childers, Dai & Swain, 1996). It is imperative that we explore the relationship
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http://zaobao.com.sg/special/newspapers/2002/10/eyah281002.html.
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Convention