A little over a month ago… yes, sometimes deadlines can mean I’m a little behind the times commenting on something. But here I think it’s important and a matter of not only press freedom but of our basic freedom of expression. It also a raises many social questions, so… A little over a month ago, the Chinese University student newspaper published the results of a student survey about their erotic fantasies, which included some questions – actually rather mundane – about sexual preferences. The article was classified as obscene, category IIb by the Obscene Articles Tribunal and the newspaper faces a maximum fine of $400,000 and the editors 12 months in jail.

Q1. Do you feel that making love is boring?
Q2. Do you feel that making love is annoying? What is most annoying about it?
Q3. Have you ever fantasized about making love with your father, mother, brother or sister?
Q4. Have you peeped at people bathing, changing clothes, masturbating or making love?
Q5. On the street, which types of persons (or animals/objects) arouse your desire most of all?
Q6. Have you ever imagined making love with your friend’s boyfriend/girlfriend?
Q7. If you did, how would you cope with the fantasy about the boyfriend/girlfriend of your best friend?
Q8. Will you try to realize that fantasy? If so, how will you do it?
Q9. When you masturbate, whom do you think about?
Q10. Which animal do you want to make love with most of all?
Q11. What do you think is the optimal number of men and women that you make love to at one time?
Q12. Where in the Chinese University of Hong Kong do you want to make love most of all?
Q13. Do you feel that the ban on opposite sex students staying overnight in student dormitories is prejudicial against heterosexual love?
Q14. Have you ever let the problems in your sex life (which you cannot say) affect your love life?*

On May 13, the Chinese Newspaper Ming Pao covered the story by creating a set of model answers to the questions from three diverse ‘students’ – a technique used to interesting effect in the Mainland Chinese erotic novel The Forever Vigorous Ancient Capital My Xi'an by Jian Ping’ao. The resulting answers were, in true Hong Kong fashion, rather evasive and pretty dull. The story was adjudged category IIb and the newspaper faces similar punitive action if prosecuted. However, just last week the same tribunal found that the pages of the various daily newspapers which cover erotic activities and sex were Category I, not obscene.
So an article that is intended to encourage open and frank discussion about sex and to remove some of the students’ ignorance of a subject often considered taboo is obscene. But adverts for sex and erotic services are not? I personally don’t think either is obscene, and I pose the following question – if such surveys and articles are going to be classified obscene where should one go to learn about sex? Censorship and denial of its existence does not make sex disappear, it just creates ignorance, pregnancy and, at worst, a death sentence.

sd