Li Yinhe talks about sex

Chapter 12 I See the "Muzimei" Phenomenon

The right of women to voluntarily have sex with men should be protected by law, not punished.

It is said that recently a "Muzimei" lady attracted the attention of netizens. A large number of netizens visited her website to read her diary, because the diary described in detail her experience and feelings of having sex with many men, to tell the truth.

Mu Zimei’s experience reminds me of a real case more than ten years ago. This case comes from a series of criminal cases published in the early 90s. Published by Procuratorate Publishing House.The case is listed under a column of "Hooliganism" under "Seduce multiple men to engage in sexual relations with him":
"Defendant Wang XX, female, successively seduced several men and engaged in sexual relations with her. The procuratorate charged the crime of hooliganism, and the court sentenced the defendant to the same crime." (Case Collection, pp. 176-177) In China Today From the human point of view, the judgment of this case more than ten years ago is obviously absurd.What the law penalizes in this case is sex outside of marriage.As Foucault said, we live in a society in which forms of human relationship are pitifully few.Why is only monogamy legal?Why is sexual activity only permissible within the marital relationship?According to the logic of this case, as long as the sexual act occurs between people who are not married, they will be criminally punished.If this law is strictly enforced, most citizens should be punished. According to survey statistics from different countries and different times, extramarital sex is generally about 40%.Adding the people who are not married but have sexual activities (premarital sexual activities and single people’s sexual activities), more than half of the population.At present, in our society, there are more and more premarital sex activities and cohabitation, and any attempt to strictly enforce the principle of no sexual relationship as long as you are not married is extremely unrealistic.In some Nordic countries, premarital sex can reach 99% of the population. Although China does not have such a high proportion, the increasing proportion has become an irresistible trend.Therefore, the use of criminal law to punish sexual behavior outside of marriage will become more and more absurd.

Such laws are not only wrong from a human rights perspective, where individuals have the right to dispose of their own bodies, but also intolerable from a feminist perspective.The charge in this case is "seducing multiple men and engaging in sexual relations with them".First, how do you know for sure that it is the woman who seduces the man, and not the man who seduces the woman?In the non-marital sex of both sexes, both parties bear equal responsibility, why should the woman be unilaterally convicted?If the reason for this judgment is that this woman had sex with multiple men by herself, then what evidence is there to prove that all the men who had sex with her had only her as one sexual partner?If one of the men has a sexual partner other than her, should he also be treated as the same crime?Second, does a woman have the right to have sexual relations with "many men"?This is a fundamental rights issue for women.The right of women to voluntarily have sex with men should be protected by law, not punished.

Once upon a time, a person who might have been sentenced according to Chinese law more than ten years ago was able to speak out in high spirits. He could speak and act freely and do whatever he wanted. "Mu Zimei" is evidence. She proves that: First, the norms of sexual behavior in Chinese society have undergone great changes, and behaviors that used to be despised or even violated the criminal law can enter the house.Second, people's sexual behavior patterns have undergone great changes: a large number of premarital sex behaviors occur, and there are even so-called "one-night stands".Thirdly, people's sexual concepts have undergone great changes: people have begun to accept and tolerate phenomena that are completely intolerable from the standpoint of traditional concepts.

Some Western scholars divide the change of sexual morality into three stages: In the first stage, human sexual activities are in a state of freedom and slack, and prostitution, adultery, and casual sexual intercourse are not considered immoral.In the second stage (from the epoch to the mid-20th century), only sexual activity within marriage was moral.In the third stage, humans will enjoy complete sexual freedom.The difference between the first and third stages is that only men enjoy freedom in the first stage, and women also enjoy freedom in the third stage.

From the "Mu Zimei" phenomenon, I feel that Chinese society has begun to transition to the third stage.For the arrival of this new stage, some people are rejoicing, while others are distraught.I advise everyone not to get too excited, and if you don’t want to get involved, just watch the changes: observing the changes in people’s behavior patterns in such a short historical period in China, a society where traditional morality is deeply rooted, should be said to be A very interesting thing.

(End of this chapter)