March 20, 2011 · Posted in: Cross Border, Health Issues
CHINA: Let’s Not
Talk About Sex
CHINA: Very Slowly, Attitudes are Changing
Yang Guang, a sexual health instructor with the Shijingshan District Population and Culture School, talks to China Features’ Yu Fei* about the uphill job of taking about sexual and reproductive health to cab drivers in Beijing.
Q: What kind of work did you perform in this program to promote sexual and reproductive health to male taxi drivers?
A: I gave a series of training classes to the male taxi drivers on sexual and reproductive health, investigating their health situation, the main problems caused by their work and their medical needs. I also answered their questions.
Q: What kind of problems did you find with the male taxi drivers? And what kind of help did you provide to them?
A: The long hours of driving would easily cause fatigue, prostatitis and cervical spondylosis. And they spend a lot of time working outside, with little time to be with their families, which is not good for the stability and harmony of their families.
What we did is to help them develop a better lifestyle. For instance, some drivers drink little water during work because it’s inconvenient for them to go to the toilet. I told them it’s bad for their health if they hold back on urinating. I taught them some exercises that they can do when they don’t have passengers.
For drivers who spend more time away from their wives, I taught them how to protect themselves if they have extramarital sexual activities, and to use condoms for prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission. If they are ill, they should go to a formal hospital.
Q: What else do you want to tell taxi drivers through this program?
A: In my class for male taxi drivers, I usually start my lecture with the question “what kind of responsibilities should men shoulder for their families?” Most of them answer, “Making money.” I told them there are more responsibilities they should take, such as the value of marriage, avoiding extramarital affairs, child education, as well as protecting their sexual and reproductive health.
Q: When did you start your career as a sexual health instructor? Do you like this job?
A: I began to get involved in sexual and reproductive health education in 2003. I usually gave lectures to the teenagers going through puberty, college students, factory workers, ordinary residents and migrant workers. I love this job very much since I could help people lead a healthy life.
Q: Do you feel special difficulties in your work?
A: At the beginning I felt it was hard to talk about this subject in public in China. When the children asked me what sexual intercourse is, I felt too embarrassed to talk about it. Gradually I managed to find out a relaxed and interactive mode of lecturing. The audience first lowered their heads, or laughed at each other, then gradually became serious as my lecture proceeded. I tried to bring the sense of responsibility into in my classes.
Q: What is the biggest challenge in your work?
A: The difference in concepts. I remember that at a class for the parents of teens, I told parents they should not suppress the so-called puppy love of their children, which is very normal. A father at the scene called me an abettor. There’s a conflict between our concepts. I told both youngsters and adults to use condoms to protect their health, which doesn’t mean I was abetting them to have casual sex.
Q: Some original plans of the CFPA project cannot be implemented in reality. Why is it so hard to promote sexual and reproductive health in China?
A: Some old, traditional Chinese concepts that sex is something dirty, ugly and cannot be talked about openly are still influencing people’s thoughts today. I felt that if we want to promote sexual and reproductive health education in enterprises, we should let the leaders of the enterprises free themselves from old ideas first. If we want to conduct such education in schools, we need to let the schoolmasters and teachers accept our concept first. It still needs a long time to change the situation.
Q: Do you feel any change in people’s attitude toward sex since you started your career in this field?
A: Yes, Chinese people’s attitude toward sex is changing. Eight years ago it was very difficult for me to communicate with my audience. They would not like to talk with me about it. But now, my audience would like to ask more questions and discuss issues with me. There’s great progress. More and more people are aware of the importance of sex education, which is common in high schools. And some primary schools are also trying to conduct sex education for children at an early age.
Q: And the attitude of Chinese men on sexual and reproductive health?
A: I think Chinese men, deep in their hearts, value their sexual health very much. But statistics show that the quality of the sexual life between Chinese husbands and wives is not very satisfactory. In my class, I can feel men are serious in listening to my lecture on improving sexual health, which means they have the intention to improve their family lives.
(*This story was done as part of cooperation with IPS Asia-Pacific.)
BEIJING, Mar 14 (China Features in cooperation with IPS Asia-Pacific) – Like bartenders, taxi drivers can usually be relied on to be able to discuss almost any topic. But there’s one subject that many of them would rather not talk about, especially here in China: sex.
Fang Junjun, for example, clams up when someone tries to steer a conversation towards his sexual health. “I’m a conservative person,” says the 42-year-old who has been driving a taxi for the past two years. “I do not like to talk about it.”
The traditional Chinese concept that sex is a taboo, combined with the operations of the taxi industry, has made it difficult for the China Family Planning Association (CFPA) to carry out a project that aims to improve sexual and reproductive health awareness among male taxi drivers here.
But the five-month project, which winds up in March, was deemed important enough by the CFPA that the organisation pressed on to implement it despite the challenges.
Qi Yuling, a programme officer at CFPA’s international division, explains: “China’s birth-control and family planning work used to focus on women. There is a misunderstanding in China that women shoulder more responsibilities in reproductive health. Most of the contraception measures are designed for women.”
“However,” she says, “in most circumstances, the male plays an active part in sexual behavior, posing a great impact on women’s reproductive health and pregnancy.”
“Paying attention to the reproductive health of men is not only for the interest of men, but also for the health of women and children, and the harmony and happiness between men and women,” Qi thus argues. ” It will also help improve the population quality of China.”
But why taxi drivers in particular? Qi points out that unfortunately, their occupation, which includes long hours of sitting, puts them among those at high risk of having reproductive health problems. At the same time, she says, many of them know little about how to protect their sexual and reproductive health.
“The most common problem related to reproductive system among male taxi drivers is inflammation of the prostate gland,” says He Lijun, a doctor with the Wu Jieping Urinary Surgery Medical Centre of Beijing University. “However, most of the drivers don’t pay enough attention to their health, and lack medical services.”
In fact, a baseline survey among the taxi drivers taking part in the programme shows that 56.7 percent had previously suffered from Erectile Dysfunction (ED). In addition, only 20 percent of the respondents accurately knew how to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS.
A total of 350 taxi drivers were given a free physical check-up as part of the project. Although the examinations have yet to be finished, Dr. He says that they reveal prostatitis among taxi drivers as being about 10 percent more common than in the general public.
The project, which is supported by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), includes as well face-to-face training for male taxi drivers on family planning, sexual health and prevention of transmission of HIV/AIDS, and other venereal diseases.
Some of the taxi drivers, accompanied by experts, also visited a reproductive health exhibit in a museum within the Wu Jieping Urinary Surgery Medical Centre.
Further, brochures about sexual and reproductive health were put into taxis for passengers to read or take with them.
The original plan had also stipulated free condoms in cabs for passengers. But this was shot down by project participants, and the CFPA has had to content itself with urging drivers to value condoms as much as they do seat belts, since both protect their safety.
“It goes against China’s traditions,” says Li Hong, secretary general of the Family Planning Association of Shijingshan District, Beijing Municipality, referring to the condoms-in-taxis idea. “The general public is conservative on the topic of sex. No taxi company would like to put condoms on their cabs.”
That, however, was not the reason why the big taxi company that CFPA had partnered with initially opted to bow out of the project. According to the taxi firm, the physical examinations and training were delaying the drivers’ work.
There are more than 90,000 taxi drivers in Beijing, most of whom clock a daily average of at least 10 hours behind the wheel. Some 1,000 are individual drivers who own their cabs but are part of a taxi company. It was one of these small taxi firms with which CFPA eventually ended up running its sexual and reproductive health project.
Cultural taboos have continued to dog the project, though. For instance, CFPA had also wanted to partner with Beijing Communication Radio, one of the most popular radio stations in Beijing among drivers, to produce programmes that spread information about sexual and reproductive health.
“But,” recounts Qi, “a producer with Beijing Communication Radio told us that things related to body parts below the waist cannot be broadcast in their programme.”
The CFPA project calls on participating male taxi drivers to help promote knowledge of sexual and reproductive health with other drivers and passengers as well. But much like Fang Junjun, most of the drivers are balking over the prospects of talking about sex and other related topics.
“No, I cannot talk about it unless others raise this subject,” says Fan Peicai, who has spent 18 of his 52 years driving a taxi. “The young men know more about sex than me. And people at my age wouldn’t talk about it.” (END/IPSAP/CCB/JS/10)
