Lost Bodies, Lost Authenticity: The Paradox of Premarital Sex in 1980s China

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2012
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Haverford College. Department of East Asian Studies
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
This paper explores the views and practices surrounding the issue of concern over Chinese women's premarital virginity during the 1980s. To this end, the analysis concentrates on a series of letters to the publisher from 1985 issues of a Chinese women's magazine entitled Chinese Women. In the first of these letters, a 27-year-old man who identifies himself as "Xiao B" asks for advice on how to cope with his recent discovery that his girlfriend was not a virgin before they began dating. Following a flood of reader response over the next few months, the magazine published five letters from other readers offering their personal stories and recommendations. Through a detailed examination of the themes presented in this material, a comprehensive picture is painted of the role of premarital sex in the lives of young people during this time. In the context of a period when the rate of premarital sex had recently risen significantly but it was not overwhelmingly accepted, both men and women faced substantial pressure from various members of society to act in often contradicting ways. For men in situations similar to that of Xiao B, their decision to either break up or stay in the relationship often came down to an internal battle between 'emotion' and 'reason', neither of which could be consistently defined. Women who engaged in premarital sex with a given man and failed to marry him afterward encountered struggles such as the threat of rejection from future love interests and a severe loss of self-esteem. Such circumstances greatly increased the degree of power held by the man and resulted in a range of outcomes for ongoing relationships. By looking forward to manifestations of preoccupations with premarital chastity in the 1990s and present day, it is demonstrated that higher instances of premarital sex over the past decades have been accompanied by individual efforts to hide this fact from the public eye.
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