Comparison of Homosexuality in China and Europe in socio-political aspect – Is male homosexuality really a taboo in China?

Essay by sixzeroUniversity, Bachelor'sB, December 2012

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Comparison of Homosexuality in China and Europe in socio-political aspect

- Is male homosexuality really a taboo in China?

Male homosexuality has long been seen as a taboo in China instead of Europe. The reasons are twofold --- the traditional values and filial piety of China. Gay marriage has been legalized in the Western nations. It seems that it is obvious for people to differentiate the acceptance towards male homosexuality between the two regions. In fact, there are still many factors that we cannot jump to judge which region is more receptive to male homosexuality. The essay is going to investigate male homosexuality in the following areas: tradition and religion, same sex marriage and the United Nation Declaration, politicians and gay movies. This essay aims to compare and contrast what male homosexuality is being seen in two regions, China and Europe, in socio-political aspect. At the same time, the essay argues that China does not regard homosexuality as a taboo like what most people think.

The Chinese have always been influenced by certain traditional values such as Confucianism from the ancient China. People have been taught not to violate the filial piety. They need to breed the next generation so as to comply with the filial piety (So 1996) . However given that two men cannot give birth to babies, thus male homosexuality is forbidden. On the contrary, there is no such traditional values in the west. In Europe, citizens do not influenced by Confucianism, meaning that the westerners need not obey the filial piety. They are free to choose whether to give birth to babies or not, without any restrictions from their society. People usually believe that China is not open for male homosexuality because of such distinctions between the two places.

Although traditional values do not limit male...