Growing Up Sexually

TAIWAN

Index → Asia → Taiwan

Also: China, Hong Kong

Taiwan (Hokkien)

In Taiwan, infantile genitalism is said to be counteracted (Diamond, 1969:p34)[1], and information about birth is censored[2]. “Nor do parents feel it necessary to provide information about sexual matters. Despite the fact that the child continues to share the parental bedroom, and the parental bed, until well into primary school, people are convinced that the children are completely unaware of sexual intercourse. Indeed, there does seem to be some kind of block that operates. Many women say that until their marriage they had no idea at all that intercourse took place between married couples, and the men claim outside sources for their information. Most have their first sexual experiences in their late teens, when an older boy takes them into the city to visit the prostitution district”.

Pre-20th century patterns include parental selection of spouse, separation of sexes from puberty to marriage, absence of dating, courtship and engagement, and irrelevance of romantic love as an institutionalised basis for mate selection[3].

Barnett (1971:p445-6)[4]:

“Even small children know a lot about sex for the village is rural and children observe the mating of farm animals and know the function. Given the sleeping arrangements and the proper site for sex, i.e., in a bed which will be shared with sleeping children, it is likely they have also observed human intercourse. I remember one occasion when the barber, a bachelor, was building a new three-room house because he planned on marriage. A group of 9 to 10 year olds were showing me around and when we came to the prospective bedroom, a boy said, “He is getting married and this is where he will stick it in her” […]. Men and old women talk about enjoying sex when children are within hearing distance although someone will occasionally shush them. During the wedding party in front of all the guests and children too, the bride is given a flower to hold, the name of which has exactly the same sound as the common term for penis, for the purpose of helping to produce male offspring. Earthy remarks though resound softly throughout the audience such as, “Do you think it is too big?” “Have you ever squeezed one before?” or “That’s not the only one you will get today” ”.

Wolf (1972:p139-40)[5] stated that children are told nothing about sex, and learn not to ask questions for which, if persistent, they will be punished.

Further Reading:

§ Ho, J. (2001) From Spice Girls to Enjo Kosai: Formations of Teenage Girls’ Sexualities in Taiwan. International Conference on Teenage Girls' Sexualities and Sex Work in East Asia, Yonsei University, Korea [http://sex.ncu.edu.tw/members/Ho/paper/SpiceGirls_to_%20EnjoKosai_tw.pdf]

§ Ho, J. (2003) From Spice Girls to Enjo-Kosai: Formation of Teenage Girls’ Sexuality in Taiwan, InterAsia Cultural Studies 4,2:325-36 [http://sex.ncu.edu.tw/members/Ho/paper/SpiceGirls_to_%20EnjoKosai_tw.pdf]

Ad: Ho:

Lecture 3, Institute for Gender Studies (IGS), Ochanomizu University

Evening Seminar, June 18, 2003

From Spice Girls to Enjo Kosai: Formations of Teenage Girls’ Sexualities in Taiwan

Discussant: TAZAKI Hideaki (Part-time university lecturer)

Moderator: KAWANO Kiyomi (Professor, Ochanomizu University)

Girls who dared to demonstrate some degree of sexual adventurism or sexual self-determination usually end up being labeled as problem girls treading on dangerous grounds who are doomed for tragedy. Yet in the past decade a wide range of teenage sexual expressions and activities in Taiwan have been observed. In fact, such demonstrations of teenage girls’ sexualities have become so clearly in sight and so blatantly “in your face” that adult concerns are raging in an effort to rein in such energies. This lecture will trace some of the most obvious formations of teenage girls’ sexualities in present-day Taiwan to achieve a broader understanding of the on-going profound social changes that have contributed to such phenomena.

[http://www.igs.ocha.ac.jp/igs/Ho2003/Ho_Seminar2003.html]

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. Volume I. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Oct. 2004

[1]Diamond , N. (1969) K’un Shen: A TaiwanVillage. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. “If a child is discovered masturbating he is severely scolded and beaten. He is threatened with what will happen if he continues; he will be unable to urinate, or he will go crazy. Children are also expected to conceal their genitalia from the eyes of others. If a boy urinates outside, he must use his hand to conceal his genitals, while girls past the age of four are expected to use the privacy of the benjo where no one can see them. They are reprimanded with slaps and scoldings if they expose themselves”.

[2] “Information about birth is also a taboo subject from childhood through the teen years. When a baby is being born, the children are shooed away from the room or even from the house. They are told later that the mother “found" the baby somewhere, or brought it from somebody's home, or that it came out of a stone that was split open. Some parents will say that the mother gave birth to it, without any further explanation, and the child who persists in questioning will be scolded and told not to ask more questions. However, children are usually allowed to watch animals giving birth, or animals having intercourse. The feeling is that they will not understand what is happening anyway, and no adult would offer an explanation to them”.

[3] Marsh, R. M. & O’Hara, A. R. (1961) Attitudes Toward Marriage and the Family in Taiwan, Am J Sociol 67,1:1-8

[4] Barnett, W. K. (1971) An Ethnographic Description of Sanlei Ts’un, Taiwan, With Emphasis on Women’s Roles: Overcoming Research Problems Caused by the Presence of a Great Tradition. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms

[5] Wolf, M. (1972) Women and the Family in Rural Taiwan. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press