Li Yinhe (; née Li Sanfan; born February 4, 1952) is a Chinese sociologist,

sexologist Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism. Sexologists a ...

, and activist for

LGBT rights in China Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the People's Republic of China face legal and social challenges that are not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex couples are unable to marry or adopt, and households headed by su ...

. Her main academic interests have been

sexual norm A sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding sexuality, and define ''normal sexuality'' to consist only of certain sex acts between individuals who meet specific criteria of age, consanguini ...

s in contemporary China,

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

, diverse sexual behaviors including sadomasochism, and

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

Early life and education

Li Yinhe was born in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Her name was changed from Li Sanfan to Li Yinhe at the age of seven. Her father, Chen Erdong was the director of the department of theories at People's Daily, and her mother was an editor. Li has two elder sisters and one elder brother. Li and her brother adopted their matrilineal surname as a realization of their parents' gender equality idea. From 1974 to 1977, Li attended

Shanxi University Shanxi University (, SXU) is a public university located in the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China. The university was selected into the Double First Class University Plan in February 2022. History Early 1900 The Shansi Imperial Univers ...

, where she studied history. From 1982 to 1998, she lived in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

and obtained a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in sociology from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

Career

After graduating from Shanxi University, Li worked as an editor at Guangming Daily. One year later, in 1978, Li was assigned a research position at the State Council Research Office, where she gained national fame by publishing the article "To substantially promote democracy, to substantially promote the rule of law" with Lin Chunhe. In 1979, Li joined the newly-founded Institute of Marxism–Leninism at the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

, where she researched marriage and family issues. After obtaining a doctorate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and returning to China, Li worked as a post-doctoral fellow under the acclaimed sociologist

Fei Xiaotong Fei Xiaotong or Fei Hsiao-tung (November 2, 1910 – April 24, 2005) was a Chinese anthropologist and sociologist. He was a pioneering researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology; he was also noted for his studies in the study o ...

, then as an instructor at Peking University. In 1992, she joined the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as a researcher, and later became director of the Research Office of Family and Sexuality. She worked there until her retirement in 2012. In the 1990s, as part of her research on homosexuality, Li began to translate many important texts focused on queer theory. This included the works of Judith Butler, Steven Epstein,

Gayle Rubin Gayle S. Rubin (born January 1, 1949 in South Carolina) is an American cultural anthropologist best known as an activist and theorist of sex and gender politics. She has written on a range of subjects including feminism, sadomasochism, prostitu ...

, and

Steven Seidman Steven Seidman (born October 17, 1948) is a sociologist, currently professor at State University of New York at Albany. He is a social theorist working the areas of social theory, culture, sexuality, comparative sociology, theory of democracy, nat ...

, among many others.

Activism

Li represents "aspiration liberalism " in China. Li has been active in calling for greater tolerance for nonconventional sexual activities in China. She argues the country is undergoing a ''de facto'' sexual revolution, and encourages people to re-examine traditional attitudes towards

sexual promiscuity Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by ma ...

and

. She proposes decriminalization of orgies and prostitution (both currently illegal in China). She also believes that

monogamy Monogamy ( ) is a form of dyadic relationship in which an individual has only one partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (serial monogamy) — as compared to the various forms of non-monogamy (e.g., polyg ...

is a personal decision made between a couple, and should not be enforced by law or social pressure. She was a keynote speaker at the 2006 International Conference on LGBT Human Rights in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec, Canada. Li also publicly speaks about other issues of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

, such as the growing urban-rural divide in China.

Abolishing outdated criminal laws in China

In 2010 and 2011, Li pointed out on her blog that three criminal laws are outdated - the laws have not adapted to drastic change in public opinion. Li argued that the force of these laws is waning as there are fewer and fewer people being punished for these offenses and the punishments are becoming less severe. Li called on legislators to legalize pornography, abolish the group licentiousness law (which provides up to five years in prison for consenting adults who have sex with more than one other person), and decriminalize prostitution.

Same-sex marriage legislation

In 2000, Li proposed adding same-sex marriage to the law when the National People's Congress prepared to revise the marriage law and sought suggestions from sociologists and legal experts. Li's argument was dismissed and a law expert stated that "China doesn't need to take the lead in this matter." In 2001, Li asked a deputy to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...

(NPC) to submit her proposal. However, the proposal was not submitted as she was unable to find 30 other deputies willing to put their names on the document so that it fulfilled the requirements for a proposal on amendments to current laws. Since 2002, Li has continued asking members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to submit her proposal.

Personal life

Li was married to Wang Xiaobo, a well-known Chinese novelist, until his death in 1997. Li went to the US alone in 1982, but Wang joined her in 1984 on a scholarship in East Asia Studies. Li announced in December 2014 that she had been in a long-term relationship with a transgender man, Zheng Hongxia (b. 1965), for 15 years.

Selected works and publications

*《中国人的性爱与婚姻》(Sexuality and Marriage in China), Henan People's Press, 1991. *《他们的世界——中国男同性恋群落透视》(Their World: a Study of Homosexuality in China), co-authored, Cosmos Press,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, 1992; Shanxi People's Press, 1993. *《生育与中国村落文化》(Procreation and Chinese Village Culture), Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1993; Chinese Social Science Press, 1994 *《性社会学》(Human Sexuality), translated, Henan People's Press, 1994. *《中国婚姻家庭及其变迁》(Changing Chinese Marriage and the Family), Heilongjiang People's Press, 1995. *《中国女性的性与爱》(Sexuality and Love of Chinese Women), Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1996. *《女性权力的崛起》(Rising Power of the Women), Chinese Social Science Press, 1997. *《中国女性的感情与性》(Sexuality and Love of Chinese Women),China Today Press, 1998. *《同性恋亚文化》(Subculture of Homosexuality),China Today Press, 1998. *《虐恋亚文化》(Subculture of Sadomasochism),China Today Press, 1998. *《婚姻法修改论争》(The Argument of the Change for the Marriage Law), Guangming Press, 1999 *《性的问题》(Sex Problem), Chinese Junior Press, 1999 *《性·婚姻---东方与西方》 (Sex·Marriage - Western and Eastern), Shanxi Normal University Press, 1999 *《女性主义》(Feminism), Taiwan Wunan Press, 2003 *《性文化研究报告》(Sex Study Report), Jiangsu People Press, 2003 *《女性的感情与性》(Women's Emotion and Sex), 2003