Li Yinhe talks about sex

Chapter 9 The key to anti-condom is anti-sex

People want to have sex, with or without a condom.

Controversy surrounding condoms has recurred in recent years.Debates surrounding the "[-]% Condom Project" pilot project in four cities; debates surrounding condom vending machines entering university campuses; debates surrounding condom advertisements on buses in a certain city; debates surrounding the removal of the ban on condom advertisements in the media, etc.

The function of condoms is to prevent pregnancy and the second is to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.From the perspective of family planning and contraception, condoms are absolutely necessary; from the perspective of safe sex to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, condoms are absolutely beneficial.Since the condom is a tool that is absolutely beneficial to people's health and the country's national family planning policy, why does the promotion of the use of condoms still cause objections?Why does the use of such a beneficial but harmless human artifact continue to be debated over and over again?The logic behind the debate is actually a basic evaluation of sex, that is: whether sex is a good thing or a bad thing, whether sex should be affirmed or should be denied.

Originally, a commodity has the right to advertise itself, so why is there a controversy involving condoms?The problem is that condom advertisements evoke certain associations, sexual associations.Because sex is regarded as a bad thing, something to be denied, the association with it becomes sinful, obscene, low, unclean, and ambiguous.If sex were a good thing, something to be sure of, the associations it would arouse would not be like this.

Since when did sex become a bad thing in China?The sexual culture in ancient my country was quite healthy and cheerful.Western scholars often compare the sexual culture of ancient China, ancient Japan, and ancient Egypt with that of ancient Greece and Rome, thinking that most people at that time regarded sex as a natural and healthy thing like eating and dressing. a good thing.

It was only from the Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties that the official ideology began to regard sex as a bad thing, and regard human desire and will as opposed to the laws of nature.This kind of concept has been continued, making us lose the ancient natural and simple sexual culture.In the extreme period of the 60s and 70s, sexual discourse even completely disappeared from public discourse, and the concealment, evasion, and fear of sexuality reached an unprecedented peak. Lenovo's plot and character relationships have been swept away. The three generations of revolutionaries in "Red Lantern" finally found that they were not related by blood. "Father is not your real father, and grandma is not your real grandma." There have been associations of sexual behavior, and this association will damage the image of the revolutionaries.Revolution and sex seem incompatible.

Today, this notion seems absurd and outdated.However, the centipede is dead but not stiff. It will never be easy for a concept to withdraw from the stage of history. Its power is still there. It exists in social reality and is hidden behind a large number of debates about condoms.Once we turn around the stereotype that sex is bad, problems like how to dispose of condoms can be solved, a healthy sexual culture can be established, and people's bodies can be protected to the best of their abilities. To avoid the tragedy of "false (concept) harming reality (interest), minimize unwanted pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS in our country.

The objection, it seems to me, also comes from a morally penalizing point of view.The key to this view is antisexuality.It is concerned that, when condom use is promoted, it will have the effect of inducing and promoting sexual activity.Since those who hold this opinion believe that sex is a bad thing and should not be advocated and induced to do it, condoms should not be promoted.The most extreme of them believe that sex is a crime that should be punished morally.

One example of this extreme view is the attitude of the Catholic Church towards sex and condoms.Since the birth of Catholicism in ancient times, sex has been regarded as a sin. By the end of the 20th century, the world has entered the so-called "AIDS era", and Catholicism still adheres to its anti-sex position.The Catholic Church even opposes the "safe sex" slogan proposed for AIDS, advocating abstinence and monogamy as the solution to the AIDS crisis.According to a Catholic priest, in a survey he conducted, 46% of people believed that "it is wrong to use condoms to prevent AIDS".Many politicians see AIDS as an opportunity to turn back the clock and return to the state before the sexual revolution, when sex was repressed and secret.For the Catholic Right, AIDS is "God's punishment" for our collective sexual sins, especially for homosexuality and the sexual liberation of the 20s and 70s.

In the West, sexual liberals and sexual conservatives have been engaged in a protracted struggle.In the 70s and 80s, the sexual liberation faction prevailed; from the 80s, the concept of sexual conservatives showed a strong resurgence.The 60s, when conservative ideas were revived, was the time when AIDS was just discovered.The AIDS epidemic in the world has played a double role: one is to spread the sexual attitudes of the 70s and 90s; the other is to reintroduce sexual anxiety, the most obvious of which is the resurgence of homophobia and hypocritical ideas.Religious circles and right-wingers have launched a comprehensive counter-offensive against the sexual revolution with great momentum.For example, in the late [-]s, conservatives in the United States vigorously reaffirmed family values. Thousands of men participated in the "Promise" movement, promising to be good husbands and fathers, to return to family values, and to be patriarchal in the traditional sense. good man.Despite the feminist slams and the disdain of many liberal men, the movement was a noteworthy social trend.

The world that conservatives dream of is a world where the sexual revolution never happened.What does this kind of society look like?As a typical social form before the sexual revolution, we can take Ireland as an example, where abortion and homosexuality are still illegal, and divorce has just become legal.The most extreme conservatives are fundamentally anti-sex, thinking it is a crime; the less extreme also believe that sex should only be limited to marriage, and all sexual acts outside of marriage that are not for the purpose of procreation are still regarded as Transgression should be punished by disasters like AIDS.

The condom debate has a premise that people are going to have sex with or without a condom.This is independent of human will, and neither can liberals change this, nor can conservatives change this.Therefore, the liberals had no choice but to advocate "the lesser of two evils" out of love—since sexual activity is inevitable, try to make it "safe sex".The views of the conservatives are based on hatred and punishment. On the issue of condoms, the sexual conservatives in our country hold roughly the same opinions as the sexual conservatives in the West and the Catholic right.They would rather get people pregnant and have STDs spread than let them use condoms; they would rather let pregnancy and STDs punish these people than let them "get away with it."I think we should have more love and less hate on this issue, and we should distance ourselves from the right as much as possible.

(End of this chapter)