In Reply to: confucius 2555th birthday posted by susie on September 30, 2004 at 01:32:52:
I'm teaching a class on adolescent sexuality this quarter. One of the main themes of the course deals with ethnic differences in sexual development and experience. Research suggests that Whites, Blacks & Hispanics in the US share more in common re: sexual norms (ethos) than the three groups differ, despite the confounding factor of poverty and minority status (Black & Hispanic groups differ from Whites, primarily due to poverty differentials).
By contrast, Confucian-influenced Asians (i.e., ethnic Asians as opposed to Amer-Asians) are significantly differant in their sexual ethos than Whites, Blacks & Hispanics, all of whom share in a Christian-Freudian ethos, despite the influence of poverty on the sexual ethos the minority groups.
Which isn't to say Confucian-influenced Asians are "loose" by any means, only that they differ significantly from western mainstream culture in their construction of sexual identity during adolescence.
I feel fortunate to have two ethnic Asians in my class, and that this group of undergraduates (in late adolescence) is allowing me to collect data on their adolescent experience of sex, drugs, violence, and pro-social protective factors.