3. Mei Ai Hold Your Hand? Homosexuality in Imperial China
History is Gay
Leigh Pfeffer
4.6 • 536 Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2018
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As your hosts return to examine the unexplored corners of history to highlight overlooked queer ladies, gents, and gentle-enbies, they bring a conversation about homosexuality in Imperial China. They will discuss the unique tradition of male homosexuality present for over 2500 years, what made it possible, and how tragic it's loss is for modern China. And don't worry, even though female homosexuality doesn't have the same strong literary tradition, there are plenty of delightful stories, and a new 'word of the week' related to queer lady experience!
Outline
0:00 – Introduction
3:55 – Main Topic: Homosexuality in Imperial China
13:38 – Social Context: Confucianism, Daoism, and Conceptions of Sex
22:46 – Social Context: Different Kinds of Sexual Relationships Between Men
23:41-24:36 - CONTENT WARNING: pederasty mention
30:23– Examples!
1:10:30 - CONTENT WARNING: pederasty mention
1:11:50 – Word of the Week: dui shi ("shared eating")
1:17:33 – Takeaways
1:20:14 – How gay were they?
1:23:06 – Where to find us online
Links to sources and bonus content at www.historyisgaypodcast.com. Get at us on twitter @historyisgaypod, tumblr at historyisgaypodcast, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! Don't forget to rate and review so more folks can see the show!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to History is Gay, a podcast that examines the underappreciated and overlooked queer ladies, gents, and gentle envies that have always been there in the unexplored corners of history, because history has never been as straight as you think. |
| 0:34.1 | Yeah. I'm Gretchen and here with me is my co-host. |
| 0:35.3 | Lee, hello. |
| 0:36.2 | Hello! |
| 0:41.4 | And in this episode, we are going to be talking about the passion of the cut sleeve. |
| 0:42.8 | So what is that? |
| 0:47.3 | That is the male homosexual tradition in China, though we are also going to be talking about the female homosexual. |
| 0:49.8 | The female homosexual. |
| 0:51.8 | The female homosexual. |
| 0:53.5 | I like it. |
| 0:54.1 | I like it. Yeah. Yeah, not as much as the male homosexual tradition The female homosexual. I like it. I like it. |
| 0:54.7 | Yeah. |
| 0:55.1 | Yeah, not as much as the male homosexual tradition in China, but this whole episode we're |
| 0:59.1 | going to be focusing on the male homosexual tradition and behaviors and literary milieu around |
| 1:07.6 | it in early China, which is pretty interesting and really cool. We wanted to kind of get it out of |
| 1:14.1 | the Western world. So we're diving right in. Yeah, we want everyone to know that like we really |
| 1:20.5 | care about this being like as global and inclusive as possible just because, you know, we've |
| 1:27.2 | existed all over the world for forever. |
| 1:29.9 | Well, we are probably going to focus a lot on Western tradition, which is, you know, |
| 1:35.0 | something that actually may come up when we talk about China is that like one thing that we, |
| 1:38.9 | I think in America are really missing is like a connection to our roots as like queer individuals like we're missing |
| 1:45.5 | kind of that that sense of like who are we how do we situate ourselves in society how do we |
... |
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