Can we talk?; China putting aside state-sanctioned prudery; sex-talk blossoms on airwaves and in newspapers FINAL Edition

• Published in: Edmonton journal
• Main Author: PATRICK TYLER New York Times
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Edmonton, Alta Postmedia Network Inc 04.12.1994
• Subjects: Communism; Pornography & obscenity; Sex education; Womens health; Beijing
• ISSN: 0839-296X

For decades under Mao, prudery was the ideological fashion, at least out in the open. But in Deng Xiaoping's era of reform, sex -- like capitalism -- has enjoyed a huge resurgence. Not only is there enormous public interest in sex, but the old icons of Communist restraint have been toppled as well, most recently in the account of Mao's prolific private sex life, as revealed by his personal physician, Li Zhisui. On a trip to Shanghai in 1976, Martin Wollacott, a British journalist, wrote that he remembered ``gasps of astonishment when journalists saw that a young woman shipyard worker'' was ``wearing a pink blouse under her Mao jacket.'' Official revulsion over the return of prostitution and pornography -- virtually eradicated in Communism's heyday -- incited the authorities to crack down on vice. Security forces have executed dozens of pimps and pornographers this year, though there is no definition of what constitutes pornography.