This study conducts a social semiotic analysis of six sex education picture books for preschool children in the People’s Republic of China. Following van Leeuwen’s framework for analysing the discursive construction of social actors, this paper examines two types of social actors directly associated with the education of human sexuality: the physical body of human beings and the institutional, disciplinary body of the family. The analysis of the linguistic and visual representations of the two types of social actors reveals a significant compromise of biosexuality to the complicated psychosexual and sociosexual concerns in the People’s Republic of China. The introduction of biological knowledge about human reproduction is conducted in such a manner that aims to instil the appropriate moral values and behaviours that are regarded as the norm in contemporary Chinese culture as well as ensuring the sound physical and psychological development of young children.
CITATION STYLE
Liang, J. Y., Tan, S., & O’Halloran, K. (2017). Representing sexuality and morality in sex education picture books in contemporary China. Social Semiotics, 27(1), 107–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2016.1161117
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.