Loftis, Emma2019-06-132019-06-132018http://hdl.handle.net/11603/14230Emma Loftis’ “Sex and the State: The Impact of State Policy on Sexual Expression in China” was the final project in First Year Seminar (FYS) 200 during Fall 2017. Ms. Loftis served as the Teaching Assistant for my First Year Seminar (FYS) 100 course, “Am I Black or White? Am I Straight or Gay?” that explores societal polarity mandates on racial and sexual identity. As a previous graduate of the course, Emma challenged herself by embarking on a project to examine how human sexuality had been restricted in other places at other times. As such, she selected China in the post-Mao era to investigate its effects and the implications on sexuality during and after the Chinese Cultural Revolution.China’s Cultural Revolution (1966—1976) was a time of strict sexual repression wherein the state, led by Mao Zedong, made efforts both explicitly and implicitly to construct a largely asexual nation. However, in the forty years following the Cultural Revolution, open expression of sexuality has become far more acceptable in Chinese society; a monumental shift often referred to as China’s “sexual revolution.” This paper explores the ways in which political attitudes under Mao’s China, as well as those of the post-Mao era, shaped notions of sexuality in the Chinese populace during each respective period. By highlighting the ideological shift in the China’s political administration from repressive socialism to tolerant free-market economy, I argue that there is a causal relationship between governance, economy and the sexual revolution. I anchor my argument by analyzing three key issues which prompted various responses from the Chinese state. I begin by analyzing the reason for the disappearance of the term aiqing, or ‘romantic love’ during the Cultural Revolution, and its resurgence in the post-Mao era. I then shift my focus to the differing responses of each political era to the population’s consumption of erotic texts. Finally, I compare methods of state-implemented population control under Mao to the methods of population control during the Post-Mao era.14 pagesen-USCollection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain information or permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Goucher Special Collections & Archives at 410-337-6347 or email archives@goucher.edu.Research -- Periodicals.Text