China swingers trial sparks sexual freedom debate

The trial of 22 swingers charged with "group licentiousness" has sparked a debate in China about the country's sex laws and human rights situation. Orgies and 'wife-swapping' are banned in China but the court case, which starts in Nanjing today, has prompted calls for greater sexual freedom.
 
Many Chinese were actually unaware of the law against 'criminal promiscuity' - hardly surprising given that the last conviction was upheld 20 years ago.

Li Yinhe, a social sciences academic and commentator on sexual attitudes, says that although spouse-swapping cases were rare in the past the perpetrators were given harsh sentences. In the late 1970s, one person was handed the death penalty while another was sentenced to life in prison.
 
The Nanjing 22 - made up of 14 men and eight women who include a university professor, company executives and shop assistants - met via an online chatroom. They are charged with taking part in a total of 22 group sex sessions between 2007 and 2009 and could face up to five years in jail.
 
A twice-divorced maths professor, Ma Xiaohai, is charged with setting up the wife-swappers' chatroom and organising group sex parties at his home. Ma, 53, has expressed his bewilderment at the law, claiming he and the other participants did not know it existed. "I didn't do anything wrong," he told one newspaper. "And there was no forcing and organising. Why is the whole country picking on me?"
 
In an interview with the Procuratorial Daily, Ma claimed that discussions in the online chatroom were initially "very clean". Most members - who eventually numbered more than 190 - used it to discuss their marital problems.
 
He set up the chatroom because he was lonely following the breakdown of his second marriage. Spouse-swapping had helped his depression, he explained to one reporter. "Marriage can be like a bowl of water that has to be drunk. Swapping partners is like a bowl of sweet wine."
 
Meanwhile, Li Yinhe has called for the law to be changed to reflect China's changing attitudes to sex. Prostitution and extra-marital affairs are now common in China, thanks in part to the free distribution of contraceptives which is part of the country's 'one child' family planning policy.
 
"The crime of criminal licentiousness... is severely out of step with the times and should be abolished," she said. "The numbers of people involved with this are not many, the activity is based on mutual willingness, it does not harm other people and it does not harm society." ·