Lust And Misogyny Of The The Han Dynasty Society

Essentially,liking and disparagement of beauties are the two sides of the same coin of misogyny.With the emergence and consolidation of the patriarchy,men gradually became the social subject,and regarded women as the esthetic object and erotic carrier.The change of the gender relationship is inevitably reflected in the cultural concept.In the pre-Qin period,the meaning of the word “Se” had already been gendered,which specifically refers to the beautiful women and the sexual lust.The pursuit and possession of beauties were repeated in reality,causing a lot of confusion.As a result,the society launched discussion to lust,while advocating men abstinence of lust,while being vigilant and guarding against beauties.After the fall of the Qin Dynasty,the Han Dynasty was established.With the recovery and development of the economy,the social atmosphere of luxury and pleasure was flourishing.From the imperial court to the wealthy family,they widely take concubines,enjoy female cabaret performances and even rely on power to seize beauty.This is because the possession of women is an important way for men to confirm their main identity and show off their power status.The cognition and norm of lust in the Han Dynasty was actually the process of cultural construction of gender order.At the level of health care,Huang-Lao thought and medical theory believed that lust is an objective existence,but indulgence hurts the body.Starting from the theoretical height of the interconnection between the governance of the body and the state,it emphasizes the necessity of male abstinence.At the level of social order,in order to prevent the destructive nature of lust,the Han Dynasty on the one hand restrained lust with etiquette,and expected the monarch to take the lead in setting an example,on the other hand,it used laws to stop fornication,thereby forcing the adjustment of the gender relations.At the level of individual psychology,men’s lustful nature and moral rationality had a fierce collision,so they used literature to relieve their lust.All of the above contents affirmed the premise that men are the dominant person in the sexual relationship,which strengthened the subjectivity of men in terms of ideology and culture.In order to better adjust the gender relations and regulate the social order,the Han Dynasty society restrained men’s lust while strengthening the gender role norms of women.On the basis of pre-Qin thought,the Han Dynasty further developed the gender theory that men are superior to women,and also used more popular carriers such as historical stories,family mottoes,and poems to construct an ideal image of women,promote the historical conception of Female Misfortune,and continuously strengthen women’s submissive temperament and family role positioning.Under the psychological anxiety of "affection loses with beauty withering away",some women in the Han Dynasty tried to obtain a more stable position in the family and society with the help of the ethical and moral identities of good wives and mothers.As a result,they complied with,identified with,and internalized the patriarchal gender theory.Through the cultural construction of gender,the Han Dynasty continuously rationalized the gender order of "man is superior to woman" and "the male leads while the female follows",and further improved the patriarchal gender system,which had a profound impact on the afterworld.