La sessualità e la costruzione/distruzione dell’identità di genere durante la Rivoluzione Culturale: il caso dei Zhiqing

In order to further our analysis of the experiences of the “educated youth” (zhiqing) sent to the countryside during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, this article looks at the complex process of gender identities’ construction. Our purpose here is to evaluate how and to what extent revolutionary rhetoric and gender erosion during the Cultural Revolution have influenced the “educated youth” in their delicate adolescent phase. We will show not only how youth’s affective life and sexual maturation have been deeply influenced by the dominant discourse on sexuality, but also how the Cultural Revolution represents much more than a mere rejection of femininity, implying a contestation, the reformulation of youth’s sexual identity and the way female zhiqing relate to the opposite sex.

In order to further our analysis of the experiences of the “educated youth” (zhiqing) sent to the countryside during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, this article looks at the complex process of gender identities’ construction. Our purpose here is to evaluate how and to what extent the revolutionary rhetoric and gender erosion during the Cultural Revolution have influenced the “educated youth” in their delicate adolescent phase. We will show not only how youth’s affective life and sexual maturation have been deeply influenced by the dominant discourse on sexuality, but also how the Cultural Revolution represents much more than a mere rejection of femininity, implying as it does a contestation, the reformulation of youth’s sexual identity and the way female zhiqing relate to the opposite sex.