Sex acts: Coverage of a sex debate by Australian Chinese community media

Abstract

An article entitled 'Is she happy who marries a western man?' by Ms Shi Guo-ying published in theJanuary 1994 issue of the Great World, a Sydney-based Chinese community monthly magazine, triggered an animated debate centring on ethnicity and women's power over thier own sexuality. The debate engaged various Chinese community media in Sydney and Melbourne including the United Chinese Times, the Chinese Post, the Chinese Herald and the Chinese Migrant Bulletin. The debate was also covered to an extent by various mainstream Australian media including the Telegraph Mirror, Channel Nine and The Sydney Morning Herald. For example, the Sydney Morning Herald carried a news story entitled 'Chinese men offended by lover rating' (19 March 1994, 13). A live debate was held on 13 February 1994 in the Mandarin Club, one of the major public meeting venues for overseas and expatriate Chinese living in Sydney. It was not only covered by the local Chinese community media but also taped by the Central Chinese Television Station. Aftershocks were felt via the media in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan andsome other Chinese-speaking regions.