Sex in a Confucian Society

Confucianism and Taoism were two of the most influential philosophies that guided the day-to-day lives of people in ancient China. Confucius was a scholar and a bureaucrat who devised a rigid schema for interpersonal conduct that is widely followed to this day. Taoism, in contrast, was said to have been founded by a possibly mythical figure named Lao Tsu, who emphasized, among other things, nature and “nonaction.” The attitudes of these philosophies were also widely divergent with regard to sex. In this article we discuss the history of the teachings of Confucius and Lao Tsu and their impact on the sexual attitudes and practices in ancient China. Although we concentrate on the teachings of Confucius and Lao Tsu, it is probable that Buddhism and Shamanism were also influential.

We then review the literature on sexual topics published in Korea during the past 10 years. We chose to concentrate on Korea because it is believed that in Korea the teachings of Confucius have been preserved in their purest form. Korea has also been highly influenced by Taoist thinking, such that a perusal of the Korean literature might provide insight into the extent to which the teachings of Confucius and Lao Tsu have been preserved. Dong San Chang, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and on the faculty at Chung Ang University in Seoul, Korea, reviewed the Korean literature.