Becoming a ‘Competent Mistress’: Taiwanese Women Who Involved in Extramarital Intimacies
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
11:15 am to 12:45 pm
- Venue
- Main Building, SOAS University of London, 10 Thornhaugh St, London WC1H 0XG
- Room
- KLT
- Event type
- Lecture
About this event
This lecture examines the increasing visibility and tolerance of non-conforming sexual practices in Taiwan, focusing on how women involved in extramarital sex navigate societal stigma and justify their actions.
In Taiwan, non-conforming sexual practices such as premarital and extramarital sex (EMS), one-night stands, and same-sex relations have become more visible and tolerated due to trends of late and non-marriage. Despite the Constitutional Court decriminalising adultery, EMS remains highly stigmatised, with 84% of respondents in the Taiwan Social Change Survey finding it morally unacceptable. The term "xiao-san" (literally "little three") demonises 'the other woman' as an immoral homewrecker.
Based on interviews with 27 women and 8 men involved in EMS, this study analyses how women justify their involvement. Married women often cite dissatisfaction in sexless or emotionally unfulfilling marriages, while single women seek relationships to meet sexual, intimate, and material needs without marriage. Both groups prefer to maintain their current marital statuses, showing how extramarital intimacy and marriage can be interdependent.
Women differentiate themselves from stereotypical 'homewreckers' by striving to be 'competent mistresses,' aligning with mainstream sexual morality and avoiding threats to the monogamous family structure. This study highlights the complex interplay between gender, marriage, and sexual morality in contemporary Taiwan.
Meet the speaker
Professor Mei-Hua Chen
Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Professor of the Department of Sociology at National Sun Yat-Sen University. Currently teaches Sociology of Gender, and Sociology of Sexuality. She published articles on issues such as sex work, sexual migration across Taiwan Straits in well-known journals both in Chinese and English.
Her research interests including women’s work in body work, and non-conforming intimacies in Taiwan. Recently her research has concentrated on migration and sexuality; particularly interested in sexual migration surrounding commercial across Taiwan Strait, and queer migration which involves transnational same-sex marriage.
This event is part of the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies Summer School programme at SOAS Khalili Lecture Theatre, between 25–28 June 2024. The Summer School is free and open to the public; registeration needed.
Photo credit: Henry & Co. via Unsplash.
