Re: Paper Tiger

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"Harbinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>Pearls Buck's Good Earth dwelt on this aspect of sexual relationship in
>China when she wrote about Wang, the protagonist , taking a young maid as
>his concubine.

Yes it's clear that she recognised this as well, but it's not quite
what I was talking about. It's been ages since I read it, but I don't
recall that Wang was an old man needing some rejuvenating health tonic
in the form of a young virgin. That's the belief I was asking you
about. I can sort of understand why some of these old fogies believe
that eating tiger bones and penises, or other exotic animal parts
might give them back their "power", but to view the consumption of a
young girl's virginity simply as a tonic for their vitality... well
it's very different than saying a man likes to have a young and pretty
wife.

>It is Darwinian. It ensures that gene of the strong and able passes down to
>the offspring and the weak eliminated. It may seem cruel or inequitable. But
>it is the law of nature or "jungle'.

Now you're just spouting clichés. The old men I'm talking about, who
form the market for young virgins kidnapped or tricked into slavery,
have already passed their genes to their children (and probably even
grandchildren). They're looking to gain some sort of vitality by
having a virgin, not to make more kids. In the process, a healthy
young girl's life is ruined. Explain the Darwinian effects of *that*.

>Having said this, I vehemently deny that Mao was a pedophile as insinuated
>by you with malicious intention in the next part of your posting..

Of course you do, wouldn't expect otherwise.

>Pedophile and related kinky sexual practice is not the monopoly of this part
>of the world. Please read Lolita.

Of course it isn't any group's monopoly, never said it was. Pedophiles
come to this region from all over the place. But as I said, it's now
being prosecuted without regard to national borders. Most societies
view it as a serious crime against the child, and a crime committed
here or in Cambodia can be prosecuted in an Australian or English or
American court. But as far as I know, most of these perverts don't
share a cultural belief that taking a young girl's virginity has
beneficial effects on health and vigour, akin to taking bird's nest
soup or tiger bone powder. And these low-lifes will not pay the
hundreds of thousands of baht that is the going rate for the youngest
virgins, they are reserved for those who will.

You're in Singapore, you must have heard of those couple of small
islands in Riau where these type of brothels operate. They exist
strictly for the Singapore market, boatloads make the short trip every
weekend. Same deal, the youngest virgin girls sold to the richest old
tycoons as a health tonic. I'll bet the price is much higher than it
would be at an underground brothel in Nakorn Nowhere.

And before you accuse me of singling out the old Chinese men, I agree
that even this type of cultural belief is not only with (some of)
them. Another well reported phenomenon is the belief among many of the
uneducated, or superstitious young men in South Africa, that having
sex with a child can cure them of AIDS. And just like most South
Africans are horrified by these terrible stories and the superstitious
beliefs that spawned them, I'm sure that most Chinese people must also
be horrified by this terrible misuse of innocent children.

I am rather troubled that you seek to diminish the issue as some sort
of normal tendency based on Darwinian laws, much less a normal "aspect
of sexual relations in China".

Brian
-- 
     Those in power believe that if no one is there to point out
       a driver's mistakes, he simply won't make any. - Bo Yang