sexual union is harmonious and life-giving.
In the early history of sex in China , when Taoism was the common doctrine, women were on equal footing with men. That began to change when Confucianism took over and women became inferior to men. Confucianism is inherently sexist and men were seen as the gender in control. Sex was seen only as a means of procreating and frowned upon if engaged in for the sake of pleasure. Husbands and wives only had physical contact behind closed doors. The Taoist philosophy later made a comeback but eventually intertwined with Confucianism and Buddhism.
Issues Surrounding Sex in Modern-Day China
In the history of sex in China homosexuality wasn’t encouraged but it wasn’t prohibited either. After the People’s Republic of China was formed, homosexuals had to go underground because they were persecuted. In modern-day China , homosexuality is slowly becoming accepted and recently, sodomy was decriminalized. Furthermore, the government no longer classifies homosexuality as a mental illness.
The rapidly rising rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases are alarming. People are surprisingly ignorant about how STDs are transmitted and the government’s initial stance was that HIV was a Western disease. By 2000 an unsafe blood supply led to a boom in HIV so the government had to stop being in denial and start taking action. Because there is a stigma attached to homosexuality, there is not much information out there about safe sex and condoms are not accepted in mainstream Chinese culture.
In conclusion, the history of sex in China is fascinating because of all of the ancient philosophies and ideas surrounding sex. It is interesting to chronicle China ‘s