Li Yinhe talks about sex

Chapter 16 Anti-Sex and Asceticism
Human beings will get rid of all guilt and guilt about sex, get rid of all perversions and distortions, and enjoy rich and colorful sexual pleasure freely.

It can be seen from a large number of ancient books that Chinese people have always held a very open and affirmative attitude towards sex. Although since the Qing Dynasty (one said it was the Song Dynasty), the public attitude has increasingly regarded sex as a private matter, and never in public places. Talk about sex, but for the Chinese who firmly believe that "food and sex are also sex", sex is an activity that can make people happy physically and mentally and prolong life.Generally speaking, according to the traditional Chinese concept of sex, in the field of sex, any behavior is acceptable, as long as it is not an excessive waste of life energy.In Chinese culture, sex is neither a terrible thing nor a sinful thing, it is a natural thing that is beneficial to health and human relations.

Since the ancient Chinese concept of sex is so devoid of guilt and regarded as a natural thing, why does sex fall into a morbid depression in contemporary China?Why is this society that has no prejudice against sex almost to the point of "disgusting when talking about sex"?Why is there an unprecedented intensity of inspection and self-examination of all publications?Could it be that sex in contemporary China has become a different thing from ancient China, from heaven and earth to a scourge?

There are three possible explanations: the first is the change in the concept of sex in ancient China; the second is the tendency of asceticism that has continued since the beginning of the Communist Party’s founding; the concept of sin).

Some experts believe that the Chinese people's sexual concept is not consistent, nor has it always been as free and simple as in ancient times, but has undergone great changes in the direction of repression, especially in the Qing Dynasty.The timetable for the change listed by Ruan Fangfu is much earlier. He believes that Chinese attitudes towards sex were basically positive in the first 4000 years; The more negative and depressed.

A second important factor in changing the sexual climate in Chinese society is the ascetic tendency of the Communist Party.Like all partisan groups originally united by ideals, the Communist Party was founded with a strong emphasis on its moral strength.A key issue in the moral sphere is sexual norms.In order to demonstrate and maintain its moral strength, the Communist Party has chosen a strict sexual norm, and there is an extremely strict abstinence tendency within the revolutionary group.

In "Westward Journey", it is said that many Red Army soldiers are virgin boys, and they respect peasant girls very much, because the Red Army has strict discipline.None of the officers took wives and had no lovers.If a Red Army soldier impregnated a woman, he was obliged to marry her.Despite much anti-communist propaganda, "revolutionary armies have always been more inclined towards excessive asceticism than the other way around".

Stacy also discussed the Chinese Communist Party’s ascetic tendency in her research monograph on the situation of Chinese women. She pointed out: “A prominent feature of the Communist Party’s family policy is that it advocates strict sexual morality... Chinese Communists during the revolutionary period did not Not the Victorians, but they consistently demanded that sexual activity be confined to marriage, never allowing people's social responsibilities to interfere with it. Throughout the Revolution, enemies always portrayed the Communists as sexually depraved , but what we have seen is that the Chinese Communist Party has responded to this accusation by openly identifying itself with sexual norms that are stricter than prevailing contemporary standards.  … The military has made it a crime to violate women, and the military Make a conscious effort to suppress the soldier's sexual drive."

In addition to the influence of the Communist Party's ascetic tradition, the inherent shame of sex in Chinese culture has not disappeared.Its oppression on people still exists.In the Chinese concept of sex, sex is an unrefined affair that can only be done but not talked about.While this does not imply complete abstinence, the idea of ​​abstinence and abstinence have an aspect that is quite in tune.In recent decades, the early asceticism of the revolutionary groups merged with the inherent concept of abstinence in Chinese society, resulting in the current state of sexuality in China, which has a strong Puritan color, which reached its peak in the "Cultural Revolution". peak.Although there has been a trend of becoming more and more lenient in recent years, traces of these decades of norms can still be seen from the way society deals with some illegal and violations. Some criminal law provisions and the handling of cases seem to be quite absurd.

The origins of asceticism can be traced back to the Greek Zeno (2110).The asceticism he founded in 315 BC believed that the chastity obtained by suppressing emotional fluctuations, regardless of personal pleasure and pain, and patience is the highest good deed and the most perfect career.Christian ascetic thinkers believe that: the body is the evidence of inner sin; the whole body of a woman and the man from the waist down are the masterpieces of the devil; the satisfaction of sexual desire is "bending to test the poison"; marriage is "the stain and corrosion of life"; Sexual intercourse is disgusting, dirty and depraved, unseemly, unclean, disgraceful, and a defilement.

The prevalence of asceticism varies with time, region and culture.In Victorian England, women were divided into two camps: one was that of respectable ladies who were ready to marry, and the other was that of "bad women", made up of maids and working-class women.The first camp is chaste but not sexual; the second is sexual but not chaste.In that era, there were a lot of verbal taboos about the physical characteristics of women.Someone recorded this in travel notes: At that time, in the decent class, even the legs of the piano were covered with coarse cloth; when eating chicken, you can't say "legs" or "breast", only "black meat" Or "white meat"; "pregnancy" is "in an interesting state"; female patients are not allowed to undress in the doctor's consulting room, but can only point out the pain they feel on a mannequin prepared by the doctor.

Some fanatical ascetics went so far as to oppose the prevention of syphilis, or to be apprehensive about the prospect of an effective treatment for the disease, because they feared it would lead to greater sexual freedom.Just as some people now believe that AIDS is a punishment for homosexuality, some people believed that syphilis was a punishment for sexual freedom in the past.In fact, a disease is a disease, and it will certainly not be God's deliberate punishment for some people; if that is the case, God will be responsible for many sufferings and deaths of human beings; I think God will not be willing to take responsibility This responsibility.Humans are almost the only animals in the world that can make suicidal choices.Some people will do something even if it does all harm and no good.Someone wants to get syphilis, someone wants to be gay, someone wants to have many partners, someone wants to commit suicide.It is better to let those who want to be sick be sick, and those who will be cured be cured than to babble in vain that a certain disease is a punishment for a certain person.

In the eyes of westerners, asceticism is only the tradition of Christian culture, while eastern culture adopts a more natural attitude towards sex.For example, in ancient Egypt, sex was regarded as a source of happiness, and there were few sexual taboos in society, so people felt comfortable with sex without fear.Ancient Near Eastern civilizations appreciated human sexuality.In Japan and China in the East, there are also a large number of books and paintings that frankly depict sexual activities, and people feel less guilty about sex.Orientals appear to Westerners as "normal and happy people".

However, this situation has changed a lot in modern times, and the direction of the transformation is opposite: the west is changing to the direction of sexual liberation; China is changing to the direction of asceticism.Of course, Chinese asceticism does not have any religious overtones, but a secular asceticism with the intention of purifying ideology.

The situation in China is very different from Foucault's impression of ancient China from the outside. The image of "sex" has indeed been swept away from literature, film and television, drama, song, art and even poetry for a period of time. There is also a lack of sexuality research and education.As a typical example of the social atmosphere of this period, you can see the "model opera" "Red Lantern".In this "model", even the three generations who thought they were a family finally found that there was no blood relationship, only the relationship between revolutionary comrades and the relationship between raising the orphans of comrades-in-arms.This atmosphere is reflected in all aspects of social life, even reflected in the clothing at that time.As one Western observer got the impression during a visit to China in 1974: “Chinese gender-related attire is characterized by the deliberate obfuscation of distinctions between men and women.  …In the People’s Republic of China, human sexuality is a taboo Problems. Extremely prudish Qing traditions were incorporated into the revolutionary doctrine, but did not include the part of the profligate subculture that ran counter to official Qing Puritanism. Prostitution was no more and sexually transmitted diseases were strongly controlled; homosexuality and Masturbation was not openly discussed; sexual relations during puberty and young adulthood were discouraged but anecdotally reported." In a high level sense, the social climate of this period was characterized by asceticism.Its roots should be traced back to Song-Ming Confucianism and Chinese-style revolutionary ideology in the 20th century.

In the past 20 years, China's sexual culture has gradually returned to the right track. The so-called "right track" has two meanings: one is to return to the original nature, and to return to the healthy sexual culture of ancient China; Have a common sense of sex, and then accept pluralistic and free sexual concepts.According to this new concept of sex, human beings will get rid of all guilt and guilt about sex, get rid of all abnormalities and distortions, and enjoy rich and colorful sexual pleasure freely.

(End of this chapter)