A Male Mencius’ Mother

On today’s podcast, Rob and Lee discuss a story that is relevant to today’s America as much as it is to  China: Male Mencius’ Mother, a sort of medieval Chinese version My Two Dads. In the story of A Male Mencius’ Mother, we find ourselves in Fujian, on the edge of Chinese civilization, purportedly an area with lots of homosexuals. While making a pilgramage, our gay protagonist, Xu Wei, finds the most beautiful boy in the area and seduces him. Afterwards, the boy feels such devotion to Xu Wei that he cuts his penis off and magically grows a vagina and helps raise Xu Wei’s son from a previous marriage . But then the court hears about this, and wrongfully convicts Xu Wei of having emasculated the boy himself.

To learn more about this ancient Chinese piece of queer literature, listen below: