A Comparison of Eastern and Western Concepts of Sexuality: Foucault's Theory and China's Unique Context
A Comparison of Eastern and Western Concepts of Sexuality
Li Yinhe, researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
In my view, Foucault is the most important thinker in the history of sexual thought. Foucault proposed an important distinction between the art and science of sex. He categorized the art of sex as belonging to societies outside the modern West, and the science of sex as belonging to Western societies. Foucault stated: On the one hand, every society-countless societies, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Roman, Arab-Muslim-has its own art of sex. On the other hand, our civilization, at least superficially, has no art of sex whatsoever. Instead, it is undoubtedly the only civilization that practices the science of sex, or rather, the only civilization that has developed procedures for telling the truth about sex over the past few centuries.
Throughout my research on Chinese women's emotions and sexuality, a fundamental assumption has consistently perplexed me: On the one hand, I feel that the situation in China resembles that of ancient Greece and Rome, as described by Foucault. In that society, the art of sexuality was not primarily concerned with classifying sexual acts as right or wrong, but rather with viewing sexual activity as a whole, focusing more on the enjoyment and restraint of pleasure. On the other hand, I also feel that the current state of China resembles the Victorian era as envisioned by Freud, where asceticism is the price everyone pays for civilization. However, one thing is certain: the sexual situation in modern China is very different from that in the modern West. In other words, the society I observed differs greatly from the society Foucault observed.
The differences are obvious even on the surface: in the West, everyone talks about sex, while in China, people are still somewhat "averse to the topic"; in the West, sex science (including various surveys, research, and psychoanalysis) is ubiquitous, while in China, sex is still largely confined to the private bedroom; Western women might see a doctor for not achieving pleasure, while Chinese women take the same issue in stride; in the West, homosexuality has undergone a liberation movement from being considered a criminal offense (in its most severe period, it was punishable by death) to "coming out of the closet"; in China, homosexuality has never been illegal but silently endures discrimination and ridicule from "normal" people; in the West, sex has become one of the most discussed topics in political science, sociology, history, and philosophy, while in China, it still hides in a corner and is considered a taboo subject.
After repeated reflection and comparison, I have come to this conclusion: the status of sex in China differs from that of ancient Greece and Rome (though there are similarities), from the Victorian era (also with similarities), and from modern Western society (the least similar). Rather, it is something formed within the unique time and space of a distinct culture. As an object of analysis, it is one that Freud, Marcuse, and Foucault never confronted. At least geographically, those three dealt with Western society, while I am dealing with Chinese society situated within an Eastern cultural sphere.
In short, the biggest difference between these two issues lies in this: In the West, debates about sex often revolve around right and wrong, normal and abnormal, good and evil; in China, the status of sex is related to importance and insignificance, nobility and shame, high and low. In Western society, sex is in a state of conflict-a conflict between suppression and resistance, normality and pathology, sin and innocence; in Chinese society, sex is neglected, relegated to the latter category, between importance and unimportance, nobility and baseness, righteousness and evil. Many scholars have argued that the West is a society of guilt, while China is a society of shame, and this view is quite valid. On the issue of sex, Western religions or ideologies warn people which sexual behaviors are sinful and should be avoided; while traditional Chinese ethics or ideologies proclaim that sex is shameful and should be restrained to a minimum; it should be done secretly, not openly; although everyone has this animalistic desire, the more noble people are better able to control it, and the most noble people are the most capable of controlling it.