Teaching Sexuality Education in China During Times of Uncertainty

The approaches to young people's sexuality education are often socially sensitive and controversial in China. Whereas abstinence-only attitudes towards sexuality have dominated Chinese sex/sexuality education since 1949, there has been an increasing demand among college students for love and relationship courses to establish healthy relationships and attitudes towards sex and gender. This chapter focuses on a selective course that has emerged in Chinese universities since 2007, anonymised in this chapter as Studying Love Advice, where the college students seek advice for dating and relationships from the lecturers (who usually work as student well-being counsellors). The data from this research was collected from online observation of three love and relationship courses and interviews with course lecturers in Wuhan, China, the epicentre of COVID-19, during the national lockdown in 2020. Underpinning the courses' promotion of a healthy relationship and sexual conduct, three discourses emerged after analysis: 1) (re)essentialising gender differences 2) ambiguities of the gender equality discourse 3) responsibilisation of women's sexuality. Through unpacking these discourses, the chapter illustrates that despite the courses showing some openness towards gender equality and LGBT issues, they reaffirmed the Party-state regulatory power over youth sexuality, reinforcing a heteronormative monogamous relationship ideal. Moreover, teaching remotely on digital platforms during the uncertain time of the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown presented the lecturers with unexpected challenges when addressing sensitive topics.