From The Washington Post, via A Glimpse of the World blog:
In the studios of Capital Life Radio’s No. 1 rated show, “Tonight’s Whisperings,” the co-host leaned in close to the microphone. “Tonight we’re going to talk about love and sex,” Sun Yan said in a deep voice, launching into a text message sent in by a student.
The young listener said that he and his girlfriend had experimented sexually the month before, but “both of us wore underwear.” He wanted to know what to do. “What if she’s pregnant?” he asked. “Will her life be in danger if we have an abortion? Which hospital can guarantee a successful abortion?”
Sun’s co-host, the author and lecturer Wu Ruomei, clasped her hands together. She explained patiently that the girlfriend was unlikely to be pregnant, but she also issued a warning. Experimentation should be avoided, she said, because it could lead to sex, and then “you might be headed for a visit to an abortion doctor.”
The exchange kicked off an hour and a half of discussion on a subject that is still taboo in much of China, even as magazines, music videos and the Internet increasingly promote sex to the country’s trend-conscious youth. Adults, many of whom came of age during the ideologically driven Cultural Revolution, have struggled to keep up. The result is a growing gap between how teens behave and what older generations are doing to educate them. Sun’s co-host, the author and lecturer Wu Ruomei, clasped her hands together. She explained patiently that the girlfriend was unlikely to be pregnant, but she also issued a warning. Experimentation should be avoided, she said, because it could lead to sex, and then “you might be headed for a visit to an abortion doctor.” [Full Text]
