Sexologist and sexual freedom activist Li Yinhe (李银河) recently criticized the firing of a female police office for engaging in wife-swapping activities. Her blog post about it is here: Danwei should not interfere with citizens’ private lives (in Chinese; the ‘Danwei’ refers to government work units or employers, not this website).
Last week she published some results from a sex survey conducted by Sohu.com that received several hundred thousand responses. Here are some of the results and some of her comments, roughly translated:
Could you have sex with someone you don’t love?
23% of women answered yes, 72% of men.
Women who have never masturbated: 26%
Li’s comment: This figure is exactly the same as a recent nation-wide sex survey’s result for women who have never had an orgasm: 26%. It seems masturbation and orgasms are closely connected…
If he asks you to watch pornography, will you agree?
78% of women answered yes… This shows how far behind the times the law is.
Men who have used commercial sexual services: 37%
… This shows how far behind the times the law is, the relevant laws are useless and should be reformed.
Have you participated in wife-swapping / swinging activities
3% of women and 3% of men said yes. This is about the same as the results of sex surveys in Western countries (2-4%)… This shows that the law about group sexual activities is behind the times and needs to be reformed.
Li’s post is here: Some comments about Sohu’s sex survey (in Chinese).
UPDATE: Brendan O’Kane at Peking Duck has translated a Li Yinhe blog post written a few days after the above, in which she says she is giving up activism because of pressure from above: Li Yinhe to hang up her spurs?. Excerpt:
I’ve had conflicting feelings lately. People have long criticized cynicism — a few years ago an overseas free thinker (Chinese) whom I respect very much criticized the growing cynicism among Chinese intellectuals. Unfortunately, in China, there are times when cynicism is the only choice we have. And it’s the choice I’m facing now: higher-ups [at CASS], under pressure from “people who aren’t Average Joes,” would like me to shut up. Actually, the higher-ups don’t think there’s anything politically sensitive about my choice of topic — the pressure isn’t coming from the government (if it were, [CASS] would have folded long ago), but even if I am just talking about things that don’t have any political sensitivity attached, they’re still about to fold under the pressure from outside. So starting now, there will be a while – maybe the rest of my life – where I’ve decided:
1. to accept as few press interviews as possible.
2. to publish as few papers related to sex as possible.
Sad.