China + sex revolution are hot buzz words lately, with topics about China’s sex-culture flooding the internet. Once controversial subjects like promiscuity, homosexuality, prostitution, AIDS, abortion, pornography and masturbation would have be taboo in China. They are now the focus of passionate public debate. One documentary, China’s Sexual Revolution (2007) that first aired on CBC takes a covert look as the slumbering giant’s libido awakens.

The documentary opens with a scene of young people necking in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, only two decades after the massacre. This liberalization of a new sexual freedom is the result of various determining factors including modernization, urbanization, China’s “one child policy”, women’s liberation, and a half a century of Maoist sexual repression and conform.

Chairman Mao—leader of the PRC from 1949 until his death in 1976—was mainly responsible for making sex a taboo. Under Mao’s dictatorship, it became mandatory for everyone to wear the unisex Mao suits which concealed a women’s curves and transformed lovers into androgynous comrades. Sex was to be performed as a reproductive duty only. Citizen’s private lives were also extremely restricted, resulting in loveless, sexless marriages.

Shortly after Mao’s death, the “one child policy” was introduced in China in 1979 as a form of “population control” in an attempt to alleviate social and environmental problems. This policy has had distinct effects on China’s social structure. It liberated women from their reproductive responsibility allowing them to pursue higher education and careers. However, it has resulted in an unbalanced ratio of men to women, with an estimated population of 30 million more men to women by 2020.

China now has the fastest growing sex trade in the world with roughly 10-20 million sex workers. Schoolgirls are being lured into the sex trade at karaoke clubs, while prostitution is widespread in bars, beauty salons, brothels and concubine villages. An AIDS epidemic is sweeping the nation as well, with approximately 200 people infected daily, and an estimated 10 million people to be infected by 2010. According to the China Family Planning Association premarital sex, pregnancy and abortions are all on the rise, especially among high school girls. Many educators have blamed outdated sex education, with people uninformed about birth control. Xu Tianming, the president of China Sexology Society, says that sexual ignorance outnumbers illiteracy.

Leading sexologists, like Pan Suiming, from the Sex Museum near Shanghai where visitors can view 1500 artifacts from China’s 9000 years of sexual history. Liu also shows his collection at Hong Kong’s first nude photo contest to take place and soft-core porn to be published in magazines. This is just the latest sign that sex is infiltrating the mainstream media. And, although the government is trying to eliminate online porn, much of it still falls through the cracks.

Muzi Mei is a sex blogger who became an instant celebrity in 2003 when she posted audio erotica of her own lovemaking on her blog. The podcast was downloaded by more than 50,000 people at once, crashing the server. She has since become a role model and characterizes the sexual attitudes of contemporary Chinese women.

There is no doubt that China is undergoing a sexual revolution. But, they still have a long way to go as far as public education. While 60-70% of Chinese have had pre-marital sex, only 20% of the men know where to find the clitoris and just 50% of the women have ever experienced an orgasm. One thing, however is for certain: Sex—China’s great taboo—is back out in the open.

Domina Doll is a sex writer who writes articles and reviews for various magazines, zines and adult toy stores. Visit her sexuality blog CherryBoxxx at http://cherryboxxx.blogspot.com/.

When news broke yesterday of New York’s Governor alleged involvement with Emperors Club prostitutes, I couldn’t help but laugh at the perfect irony of it all. Those who know about Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s (otherwise known as “Client 9″) crusade against prostitution in New York state while still working as attorney general are either confused and shocked by the news, or rightfully pissed off at another supposed white knight politician who ended up guilty of the same sins he campaigned against.

In 2004, Spitzer indicted 18 people associated with elite escort services in New York City for “promoting prostitution” and related charges. That same year, he prosecuted individuals promoting prostitution in Asia, also known as “sex tourism”. As governor, Mr. Spitzer passed legislation for stricter penalties for “sex tourism” operators and “sex traffickers” who bring foreigners into the U.S. and force them into prostitution. That is all well and good, but while legislating and enforcing the laws, it seems Mr. Spitzer forgot that he, himself, was also required to adhere to them.

Gov. Spitzer can now hang out with the likes of Mark Foley, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, and Larry King (not the talk-show host); and not necessarily for the heinousness of the crimes committed, but for their hypocrisy and sheer disrespect for the law. Foley was one of the House of Representatives’ top opponents of child pornography and introduced legislation to change federal sex offender laws. He resigned in 2006 over the now infamous “congressional page sex scandal”, turning out to be quite the offender himself. Larry Craig was an outspoken opponent of same sex marriage, even while lying to Matt Lauer’s face on The Today Show about soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom. The formerly respected Evangelical pastor, Ted Haggard, preached that ‘God hated fags and their disgusting lifestyle’ (to paraphrase), but was outed purchasing meth from a gay prostitute. Possibly the most gruesome and under-publicized sex scandal in the history of this country, however, belongs to Larry King - an up and coming member of the Republican party and Evangelical Christian church in Nebraska during the 80’s. King was alleged to be involved in a child prostitution ring that extended all the way to the The White House, but was acquitted and instead convicted and imprisoned on charges of cooking-the-books in a credit union criminal case.
(Watch Conspiracy of Silence - a previously un-aired Discovery Channel documentary about Larry King and Republican party VIP involvement in child prostitution.)

Eliot Spitzer joins a long line of dickhead politicians and public figures who have campaigned against the sins of infidelity, prostitution, and homosexuality to ultimately hide their own sweaty guilt. An overly simplified comparison would be the high school jock who called me a “fag” and who I ended up fucking the hell out of senior year.