Sex Histories: Zhang Jingsheng’s Sexual Revolution
Author : Hsiao-yen Peng
Keywords : Zhang Jingshen, Sex Histories, sexual revolution, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Marie Stopes, autobiography, Married Love, gynecocentrism
DOI :
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During the May Fourth period Zhang Jingsheng, nicknamed “Dr. Sex,” aroused great controversy because of his
publications on female sexuality. Although he had achieved
fame as a utopian thinker for his two previous books An Outlook
of a Life of Beauty (Mei de renshengguan, 1925) and The Organization of a Society of Beauty (Mei de shehui zuzhifa, 1925),
his reputation was seriously damaged by Sex Histories, which
was and still is considered pornography by many people. However, I argue in my paper that Sex Histories, with seven “case
histories” in autobiographical form and Zhang's editorial commentaries studded with sexological jargon, should be considered an imitation of the “case studies” found in Havelock Ellis’s
Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1905). I compare ferninist
Marie Stopes, whose Married Love: A New Contribution to the
Solution of Sex Difficulties (1918) was a source of influence on
Zhang. My conclusion is that Zhang Jingsheng was deliberately
starting a sexual revolution, which, in his mind, was necessary
to effect a new society in which man and woman are truly equal.
In order to help clarify his serious sexological purposes, I
compare Zhang’s Sex Histories with one of the false “sequels”
that made his name notorious. Near the end of this paper I compare Zhang’s sexual revolution with the “sexual revolution”
launched by Taiwan feminists during the late eighties and early
nineties, with a view to showing how Zhang systematically
taught people to understand the nature of female orgasm,
whereas, unfortunately, the Taiwan feminists nowadays give the impression that they are demanding female orgasm on the
street.