Li Yinhe

Li Yinhe 李银河 (Peking, 1952) is a sociologist and sexologist. She is considered to be one of China’s best-known intellectuals defending sexual practices deemed to be beyond the norm (for example, pornography, sadomasochism and orgies) as well as the rights of women, gays, lesbians and transsexuals. In 1988, after receiving a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, she returned to China where she became a pioneer in her field from which she introduced western theories into Chinese society. A member and researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, she has published several books, notable amongst which are Foucault and Sex (2001); Subculture of Homosexuality (1998); and Their World: A Study of Homosexuality in China (1992), which she co-authored with her husband, the writer Wang Xiaobo.