Multiple sexual relationships as a new lifestyle: Young women's sexuality in contemporary Shanghai

Abstract

Synopsis This study examines the stories of young women who have engaged in more than one sexual relationship during a specific time period while living in Shanghai. Through in-depth interviews from May 2004 to July 2007 with fourteen young women selected from a sample of 40 interviewees in Shanghai, this study analyzes women's desires in terms of their engagement with the ideas of “true love” and “lifestyle.” The “intimate troubles” they experienced in handling their multiple relationships are also examined as a way of understanding their sexual strategies and agency. While these women try to use their sexual choices as a way of reorienting their life goals and repositioning themselves in society, their perceptions of sex, self, love, marriage and lifestyle are transformed. Sex is not simply being used instrumentally, but rather as a practice that creates meaning and shapes life goals.