Defining the "Revolution": A Study of Contemporary China's Sexual Transformation

Whitehead, Zackary L. (2015) Defining the "Revolution": A Study of Contemporary China's Sexual Transformation. Undergraduate thesis, under the direction of Joshua H. Howard from Department of History, The University of Mississippi.

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Abstract

The use of the word “revolution” typifies much of the research and media coverage of contemporary shifts in Chinese sexual attitudes and behaviors. I argue that this language, while useful in intimating the extent of social transformation, remains clumsy due to the historical backdrop of Western sexual liberation and China’s own cultural history. While the PRC government continues to disapprove and outlaw the proliferation of pornography, rising rates of premarital and extramarital sex and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other developments demonstrate ongoing shifts in Chinese society. Yet, the government’s domination of politics and the Chinese people’s desire for continued economic and political stability have ensured that China’s current de facto sexual “revolution” is more limited in scope than Western sexual liberation.

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