'Female virginity complex' untied: Young Chinese women's experience of virginity loss and sexual coercion

Abstract

This article selects the critical moment of virginity loss in young Beijing women's lives to look at the meaning of sexual coercion in dating relationships. The authors observed that many young Chinese women presented their first experience of sex as containing some elements of sexual coercion that were being described as 'minor,' do not involve obvious physical force, but are unpleasant and regretful experiences of virginity loss. This article contributes to a new understanding of virginity loss and sexual coercion in China and sheds light on the social transformation of sexuality from the Maoist era to the postsocialist era. Implications for social work practice and research in China are also discussed. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.