European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 13, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Strollers in Bering until neen Tif no ant in Chen a Witting to talk about sex or aex China discovers sex by Charlene l fun associated Pressa group of chinese sociologists and medical personnel is trying Logel sex Oul of the closet and help people to have Happy healthy sex lives we Are very in conservative said Shi Ling director of the obstetrical and gynaecological Hospital of Harbin and a member of China s sex science no scotch society. 1 he 177-member society was set up last year to coordinate efforts of medical workers and sociologists Al several Harbin hospitals and ins Lillions in addicts my sexual problems the provincial capital of China s North easternmost province of Bilon Jiann with ils soviet slate architecture and heavy Industry seems an unlikely place for China to Pioneer work in Box research and the study and realm enl of sexual disorders. But the City of two million boasts the nation s first con Lars Lor treatment of male and Lemale sexual disorders and the unique sox science research society members of the society say China can no longer ignore tile sexual problems that Many chinese live with sex has Long been a forbidden subject. To one ass willing to Lalk about sex or sex problems but it is a vary Impi land problem it is a Pio Blom Hal Adels everyone said sociologist Gao Caipin chairwoman of Heilongjiang s Institute of Marriaga and family planning no other disorder in the world is like sexual disorder in that it affects both partners said i Jinqi head of the Center for treatment and Consulta tons of sexual Disorda Solmen. Sooner or later we had to Osla Blish this clinic. We can i avoid this Issue. It s a part of us but in the past nobody was willing to talk about said Yang Jin Discolour of the Heilongjiang no. 4 Hospital that houses the male clinic. He pointed to the 4,000 idlers the clinic has received since it was established two years ago and the year Long waiting list for treatment As evidence of the Magnisi Udry of the problem. Page id the stars and stripes since the clinics opened in 1386. Similar institutions have been started in other parts of China. But Harbin still Al tracks a aliens from across the Nalion and is regarded As the Leader in the Field. The male sexual disorders clinic has treated More than 3,000 patients and the cell or for treatment and consultations of sexual disorders of women at the obstetrical end gynaecological Hospital has handled 5,000 cases of which 3,000 were outpatients. The men s clinic claims to have owed 70 percent of its patients the attitudes of the research society members Are refreshingly open in this society that traditionally has been puritanical and moralistic. The female sexual disorders Center Lor example has begun to encourage women to experience orgasms during Intercourse. The clinics la Jihjie some situations new to China. With the gradual Rise in the Standard of living Young people Are reaching puberty earlier. The age Al which girls have their first menstrual period has dropped from 13 to 11. Boys reach puberty at age 13 rather than is. However China has a strict policy of Lale marriage. The Legal ago for marriage is 20 for women and 22 Tor men among the highest in the world. While late marriage helps keep Down China s birth Rale it creates a Nalion of sexually frustrated Young people. Society members said increasing numbers of Young people Are engaging in premarital sex. There is an obvious increase from the past of Young people having sex before marriage Shi said but said no figures were available. She said her Hospital has seen a jump in in Mariod pregnant women ranging in age from 14 to 25. Seventy to 75 percent of the abortions the Hospital performs on women in their second trimester of pregnancy involve unwed mothers Shi said. A report earlier this year by the official China news service said 2? percent of the women who had abortions in is sat the Foshang no. 1 Hospital in Huangdong province were unmarried. That figure Rose to 30 percent the following year. In 1937, that percentage Rose by 40 percent Over the 1935 figure the report said. Still the amount of premarital sax in China is Lar below world Levels. Shi said. Surveys of engaged couples have found Hal More than 90 percent were virgins Friday May 13,19b8 glasnost from i the Waist up by Charles Mitchell United press International s hoppers on Moscow s Busy Kalinin Prospek sheepishly divert their eyes irom half naked mannequins in department Siloro windows. Window dressers whip a cloth across Iho Glass to Block Tiro View. At moscow1 Hac Kotrell spa Itskovskaya studio experimental theater a rape scene in the play dear yet ens Serg Yevna that contains Tionta nudity draws a percept Lilb gasp irom the audience most shift to Iho Edge of their seals others took away from the stage Heads wagging in disgust. Sparked by he influence of glasnost. Soviets these Days seem eager to talk about anything except my. National Prudis Ness sometimes goes beyond reason and defies logic to a country whore it the first hint of summer Sunshine women treaty strip to their underclothing in Public Parks academic editions of Alexander Pushkin s Early f 9lh Century poetry Are printed Mill Blanks instead of passionate references to love. Writer Anton Chekhov s tetters penned before the Lum of the con Lucy Are of ten edited because of mildly risque references to women. The official View is that these May tarnish his image As a great writer. Soviet Laws against pornography Are stiff. The maximum jail term for Possession is three years. But the Legal definition of what constitutes pornography is so hazy Lew know exactly where eroticism ends and pornography begins. There is almost no sex hero that is it exists biologically otherwise our country would ale out but sex does not exist As an object of open discussion scientific analysis or sociological poll says my critic Vladimir Dmitriev actress Tatiana cubic a who has appeared in films considered on the cutting Edge of official Terance of eroticism was even More Blunt in an interview published recently. A human being in our country exists Only from the Waist up and everything below Iho Waist is not discussed she said. The inability to discuss sex in forums from the classroom to Iho therapists office to film and an is exacting a Reat and Coblry toll irom soviet society. Surveys show that up to 50 percent of the 1 million divorces annually Are caused by sexual income Allily. Much of the incompatibility is put Down to ignorance. Couples with sexual difficulties have few options. Moscow a cily of nine million people Haa just five clinics specializing in marriage counselling and sexual therapy. I traditionally it is a problem never mentioned either in Public or private. The soviet Union also leads the world in the number of abortions. Officially there ate More than seven million Legal ones every year compared with just live million live births. The United states for example has about 13 minion Legal abortions every year compared to 3.7 million live births. Again the inability or unwillingness to confront sexual problems and Iho need for education is blamed. The majority of pregnancies occur before marriage. It appears Prog Ancira Are the result of the Tow level of sexual education the weekly Cedelya newspaper said in a rare critical look at soviet abortion High abortion rate has in turn led to High Rales of female sterility and a drop in the birth Rale in european Russia. Since other forms of contraception Era unavailable abortion is by far the most widely used method of birth control. Venereal disease also Are increasing at an alarming Rale due in Large part to the failure of schools and the popular press to educate. Only a Quarter of Al sufferers Ever see a doctor and Many Are entirely unaware that such diseases even exist. Although much has been written about the potential aids danger there has been no rank discussion to the Media on How it is spread. Homosexuality a crime punishable by eve years in prison remains a taboo subject. Us existence in the soviet Union was first mentioned in the popular press Only last year. That Malavsky Komson tots newspaper article concluded homosexuality can be cured with methods identical to those which Are used for eliminating Al sorts of pathological syndromes like alcohol and drug addiction
