Despite being the most populous and regulated nation in Asia, China still does not have any official statistics on the number of homosexuals in the country. However, unofficial estimates indicate that there may be 20-40 million homosexuals currently living in China. Yet until recently, there was almost no mention of the word homosexual or any information on this topic, which is still considered a taboo in many parts of the country. The modern government, regardless of their many advances, still maintains a stoic silence akin to Communist-era China when it comes to gays and lesbians.
[...] Celluloid Comrades: Representations of Male Homosexuality in Contemporary Chinese Cinemas. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press Lingiardi, Vittorio, and Jack Drescher. Mental Health Professions and Homosexuality: International Perspectives. New York: Haworth Medical Press Lock and H. Steiner. Gay, Lesbian and bisexual youth risks for emotional, physical, and social problems: results from a community-based survey. Journal of American Academic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Mar; 297- 304. Lock Kleis Origins of homophobia in males. Psychosexual vulnerabilities and defense development. American Journal of Psychotherapy 1998 Fall; 425-36. [...]
[...] Although there are no explicit laws prohibiting homosexuality or same-sex acts between consenting adults, neither are there laws protecting gay people from discrimination, nor are there any official gay rights organizations in the country. The Chinese policy towards the gay issue today remains the oft cited "three no's": no approval, no disapproval, and no promotion (Zhou 2004). After a brief history leading us to today, I will investigate how China came to its modern state on LGBT rights and restrictions. [...]
[...] "Male Homosexuality in Contemporary Mainland China." Archives of Sexual Behavior (1988): 189-99. Ruan FF, Bullough VL, Tsai YM. Male Transsexualism in Mainland China. Archives of Sexual Behavior Dec; 517-22. Sankar, Andrea, "Sisters and Brothers, Lovers and Enemies: Marriage Resistance in Southern Kwangtung", Journal of Homosexuality 11:3-4, (1985), 69-82 Silverstein History of treatment. In: Cabaj RP, Stein TS, eds. Textbook of Homosexuality and Mental Health. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1996: 3-16. Socarides Homosexuality. New York, NY: Jason Aronson Publisher; 1978. [...]
[...] When the first AIDS cases were reported in the 1980s, the official press called for a ban on homosexuality and a crackdown on ‘sexual liberalization', even though the first AIDS victims in China were understood to have caught it through intravenous drug abuse. And despite the fact that male-male sexual contact accounts for a low of AIDS transmission, many Chinese people continue to see AIDS as a gay disease. In reaction to record new HIV infections in China, the government has initiated numerous awareness and support movements. [...]
[...] Interestingly, even though homosexuality was no longer considered abnormal by the majority of individuals living in North America 40 years ago, it has taken China at least 20 more years to follow the footsteps of their Western counterparts and admit that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and does not require treatment (Pillard 1996, Silverstein 1996). Had it not been for the economic boom and the arrival of foreigners into the country, it is impossible to guess when the government would have acknowledged that homosexuality was not abnormal due to the overreaching historical beliefs from Communist-era China that all sexual liberation must be sufficiently snuffed out. [...]
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