As we seek to problematize the western perspective of "Asia," it might be useful to also observe the appropriation of the idea of "the west" as a hegemonic process inside Asia itself.
The move to problematize Asia or other imaginary cultural space often presents itself as a local- or grass-root-oriented project in resistance to a state- or capital-oriented hegemonic discourse. While this self-characterization may mobilize anti-imperialistic or anti-west implications or sentiments that have worked to create many progressive movements, such a dramatized positioning may also be articulated with other social forces that could work to retard the process of democratization. After all, "the west" is by no means a unified entity of imperialistic invasion. Nor is Asia itself the powerless cultural space on which the west is said to be attempting to wield its formidable power of transformation. In fact, "the west" may be in many cases a concept that is evoked for various power purposes and effects in the Asian context. In the following presentation, I would like to try to address such delicate maneuvers with one specific example from Taiwan in relation to the highly contested area of sexuality, which also has implications for the Asian context in general.
When the call for women's sexual-emancipation was issued forth in 1994 from within the first feminist-organized street protest against pervasive sexual harassment cases in Taiwan, the incidentally produced empowering slogan of "sexual orgasm, not sexual harassment" aroused huge anxiety and unease. In order to invoke the progressive heritage of the west in the 1960s and 1970s as well as the liberation heritage of China's recent past, the new sex-emancipation movement also produced discourses that deliberately adopted the terms "sexual revolution" or "sexual liberation." Unfortunately, how such a controversial strategy may have articulated local emergencies and contested local cultural constraints did not get much attention. Instead, the commanding presence of "the west" in Asian imagination quickly took control over the understanding of such a strategy.
For those who have been hostile to the women's cause, the slogan is taken as a clear signal that the feminist movement has finally gone over the fence in its pursuit of individualism and male-identification, stooping so low as to cast off all moral restraints just to imitate men in everything, including in the low-down area of sexuality which even men should not venture into, not to mention women. Viewed in this light, women's interest in achieving sexual pleasure, rather than maintaining sexual innocence and abstinence, is understood as a bad influence brought on by a feminist movement that has been imported from none other than "the west."
Others who seem to be more "informed" but still discontent with "the sexual turn" in Taiwan's feminist movement found another easy way to discredit such strategies, that is, simply identify the familiar labels of sexual revolution and sexual liberation as nothing more than "copying the west." What is worse, the slogans are seen as merely picking up concepts that have now long been considered outdated and bankrupt in the west. Some then cite recent reports of the revival of family ideology in the United States as evidence that advocates of sexual emancipation in Taiwan are grossly anachronistic. Americans are now vowing to keep their virginity for the true love in marriage, they say. Americans are tired of sleeping around and are now returning to one-man-one-woman long-term relationships, they say. Americans are now reviving the age-old tradition of marriage for keeps, they say. So why are we picking up what they have now discarded? They ask.
Last but not least, many local feminists are wary that the sexual turn may jeopardize the hard-won legitimacy women's groups have barely begun to enjoy. They believe sexuality is an area fraught with controversies and dangers, for women especially, and the so-called avant-garde slogans should not be flaunted at the price of the whole movement. Some feminists point to the American radical feminists' warning of "sleeping with the enemy" and the cultural feminists' concern about women being forced into unwanted sex under the sway of the label of sexual emancipation. It is even brought to everyone's attention that many sex-liberation feminists in the west have now recanted their former liberal positions. Accordingly, the movement in Taiwan would do well to steer clear of the mistakes made by the American feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
It is obvious that in all of these expressions of hesitancy, the overarching presence of the imaginary "west" and its possible influence in the local context are evoked, albeit with various contradictory connotations, to characterize any new and undesirable development in movement strategy. In addition, as an idea distinctively incongruent with traditional Asian virtues of chastity and virginity, sexuality, even in its most rational discussions, is quickly branded a dangerous western importation. The persuasive force of such accusations is especially powerful for the present Asian context, where regional and ethnic pride has long suffered under the expansion of western and imperialistic powers, and has since been brewing in overcompensation as Asia's booming economies gradually infuse and strengthen Asian confidence. To be labeled "western" could even be considered a kind of betrayal to the statist cause of indigenous self-determination now highly promoted by Asian states. As soon as such easy labeling is applied, nascent and unconventional strategies developed by progressive social movements are denied any chance for rational discussion or creative re-envisioning.
Such concerns and reservations do not limit themselves to the question of female sexuality; in fact, when the lesbian and gay movement began to bring some legitimacy to a population long stigmatized in the Asian context, opponents also resort to similar arguments to point out that such a movement is little more than a fad, a game picked up by the westernized elite. In other words, any new practice or discourse in the sexual realm is easily labeled western and then quickly and righteously discredited as something foreign and thus inimical to local culture. In defensive self-definition, many came to see sexuality as the worst choice for the dramatization of social and economic change in Asia.
Still, ideological battles, social contradictions, and other political struggles are frequently displaced unto the surrogate realm of sexuality, creating waves of discourses that further saturate and complicate the structure of feelings surrounding sexuality. It is little wonder that the historical presence of sexuality in Asian cultures would then be loaded with all the conflicting forces of disgust and indignation (associated with the booming industry of pornography and prostitution, which often bring back memories of western military presence in the recent past), fear and anxiety (toward the active movement of women and teenagers in a fast changing erotic culture fueled by capitalistic commodification), and last but not least, celebration and struggle (by sexual minorities, or as some of us refer to them, polysexuals such as rape victims, children born out of wedlock, HIV-positive patients, sexually active senior citizens, "the other women," homosexuals, exotic dancers and other sex workers, etc., who are now for the first time enjoying some form of recognition and some degree of exoneration). All of these conflicting forces, mixed in with the ambivalent feelings toward the idea of "the west," settle into sediments of diverse emotional traces and exhaustive discursive exchanges, which constantly refract Asian experiences of sexuality. It is within such a volatile situation that the sexual emancipation movement hopes to inject its highly political intervention. If demands for racial justice and gender justice have each in turn been labeled as "western importation" yet gradually gained recognition as legitimate social fields of struggle in the Asian context, then erotic justice may be the latest addition to the list.
Still, one view that is popular among many so-called "state-feminists" holds that sexuality is a field so thoroughly saturated with male power, violent dangers, and none other than western influence, that any effort by women or the sexual minorities to change its power deployments would only bring more harm to women and the sexual minorities themselves. The advise is then to stay out of the on-going struggles in the sexual realm and leave matters to the strong hands of state legislation and supervision, a state that would be free of all "western" (and other kinds of international) manipulation. In other words, as Asia faces those so-called senseless "bad" women, those immature but sexually active teenagers, and those sex-crazy homosexuals, who are said to be "succumbing to" the sexual lures of capitalism; "the west"--with its multifarious connotations accumulated through Asia's complex experiences in the past centuries--has become an easy label that is now conveniently used to transform nascent nationalistic pride into stubborn resistance against profound social change and further democratization of the social hierarchy. Such intricacies of discursive articulation present serious challenges that the new and progressive social movements are still struggling to deal with.