Li Yinhe 李银河

The annual meetings of the Chinese government in Beijing have attracted many reporters, both domestic and foreign. Likewise, many professors and experts have started posting their views and thoughts about some of the pressing social issues in China. On March 3rd, Li Yinhe李银河, a sociologist who has habitually been outspoken about “individual's right to sexual expression” has published an entry in her blog that has since attracted much contention; her blog entry in question was entitled “A Proposal to Remove Criminal Offense for Orgies”.

Criminal Offense for Orgies is Seriously Outdated

According to Li Yinhe, as she has stated in her blog entry, criminal offense for practice of orgies is an antiquated law and thus needs to be removed. “Offense of orgies was originally included in the offense of vulgar acts, and after the offense of vulgar acts were done away with, the part about orgies has thus remained and is grouped with other miscellaneous offenses in Chinese criminal law. But the fact is that the outdated law is rarely applicable when practiced in today's society, so I would propose that it be done away with altogether. In this way, we can be sure to uphold our laws to the utmost authority and absoluteness, as is entitled.”

All Citizens Have a Right to Their Bodies

To prove her point, Li also explained five studies of criminal cases where offenders were caught in sexually promiscuous acts, and one serious offender was even sentenced to death for his “crimes”. According to Li: “These case studies are used to help explain one of the major inconsistencies that lie with sex-based crimes in our country. What we call group sex and orgies, the western world has assimilated into everyday practices of the norm in the form of 'sex parties'.” Right now there have been such 'sex parties' taking place throughout China where all those taking part are willful participants.

Li further states in her blog entry that as long as the participants of orgies are taking part out of their own free will, then the law has no grounds to condemn their acts as criminal – because every citizen has a right to their own body, to use their bodies as they see fit.

Blog Post Has Attracted Over 270,000 Views in One Day

In just one day, Li's post entitled “A Proposal to Remove Criminal Offense for Orgies” has attracted over 270,000 views and her blog entry has since been copied and re-posted on many popular Chinese BBS forums (Tianya and Tieba for two example), drawing heated debates and much contention from Chinese netizens. Many netizens thought that Li is trampling upon the traditional values and morals widely accepted by the Chinese – provoking people to start throwing themselves to the evil abyss of lust. Some thought that Li is just vying for attention. But more and more netizens, however, are finding themselves aligning with the views proposed by Li; “You can't just force your likes and dislikes on someone just because you're of one opinion,” one netizen stated. And another supporter explained: “I used to be against Li Yinhe about some of her views, but I've never once doubted her intentions. She and her husband Wang Xiaobo are both conscientious scholars, that I'm sure.”

On March 6th, Li posted another entry explaining her reasons for proposing to do away with the criminal offense for orgies: “Proposing to do away with the criminal offense for orgies is not the same as supporting its practice. I am just saying that the law has been completely and unduly too harsh in the past in punishing this offense is all”.

It has also been learned that last year during the annual government meetings in Beijing, Li had handed her proposal on homosexual rights to an acquaintance and a committee member attending the meetings, but nothing fruitful had came of it in the end.

Li further supports her views by saying: “Many people may think that doing away with the offense for orgies will have a negative impact on the moral values of society on the whole, but I think this is entirely an unnecessary worry; because in the twenty or so years that we've kept this offense in criminal law, it has simply fell out of practice. Doing away with an outdated law should have little to no affect on the current standing morals in society”.

Source: gcpnews.com

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