Differences in American and Chinese’s Sex Education
Culture Roots – Why are Chinese Sex Education Videos Implicit
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Culture Roots – Why are Chinese Sex Education Videos ImplicitNow that we have looked into the rhetoric use in both Chinese and English pop culture sex education videos, the reasons why these rhetorical methods are used are worth discussing. There are mainly three reasons why Chinese videos about sexual health are more implicit. First, it is less intimidating for the audience to accept and understand. Compared with American culture, Chinese culture is relatively conservative and in general, most Chinese people can still feel uncomfortable talking about sex. Discussion of sex‐related topics, especially sexuality and sexually transmitted infection (STI), are traditionally taboo in Chinese culture, although this has been changing since the 1990s (Zha and Geng, 1992). By using metaphor and euphemism, the uncomfortableness is reduced to some extent. Second, rhetoric makes the video entertaining, which leads to more view and popularizing the content. The use of humor is present in both videos. A study finds that humor is an important element for YouTube videos when it comes to sexual health education (Evers, 2013). Humor can help the message be more amenable to being passed on. One of the benefits of humor is that it may overcome the sexual health stigma and so promote the sharing of content. Young people said that if a message is too serious, it is not likely to be shared (Evers, 2013). Third, “disguising” sexually explicit content suits the video censorship in China. Due to the lack of video classification system in mainland China, the censorship of video content is relatively strict. In 2010 China’s State Council Information Office published the first government issued policy on the Internet. It includes a list of prohibited topics: […] spreading rumors, disrupting social order and stability; disseminating obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, brutality and terror or abetting crime; humiliating or slandering others, trespassing on the lawful rights and interests of others; and other contents forbidden by laws and administrative regulations (ENGLISH.GOV.CN, 2010). Very often, sex related topics can be regarded as pornographic even if they are for educational purposes. By developing rhetoric using metaphor and euphemism, the sex education content can “escape” the keyword censorship and other regulations.
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