The Institute for Chinese Studies presents the "Global and Transnational Experiences" Lecture Series. This lecture will be given by Wenqing Kang, an associate professor in the Department of History.
Historical studies tend to depict the Mao era of China as sexually repressive. The only legitimate sexual intercourse was between a man and a woman within government-sanctioned marriage. No public discussion of homosexuality could be found in the official media from the 1950s to the 1970s and sex between men seemed impossible to exist. Government archives are not open to academic research on homosexuality in the Mao era. Personal narratives become a crucially important source to study this part of Chinese history. In the past few years, Kang travelled to various cities in China to meet men in their 60s and 70s who were willing to tell stories of their queer past. Questions include: How did the sexual life of men whose object of sexual desire was other men look like? Is it even possible to discuss these men’s sexual happiness of during the Mao era? How could their stories contribute to our understanding of the history of socialist China? While one hears stories that confirm the sexual repressiveness of the period, there were also stories of men who enjoyed their sex with other men during the Mao era. Kang suggests that even in a sexually repressive social environment of socialist China, some people were still pursuing their sexual happiness.
For more information, visit the East Asian Studies Center website.
