Status Updates From The Haunting Fetus: Abortio...
The Haunting Fetus: Abortion, Sexuality, and the Spirit World in Taiwan by
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Andre
is on page 167 of 206
so dolls shaped like human beings or parts of dead fetuses' bodies are used in fetus demon sorcery.
— Jun 05, 2026 12:10AM
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Andre
is on page 159 of 206
Two families using geomancy to harm each other's clans. Both hired feng shui masters to help benefit from the fenghsui of their ancestor's graves while simoultaneously using the geomantic forces to harm each other's lineages.
— Jun 05, 2026 12:06AM
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Andre
is on page 156 of 206
so a sorcerer can only use a fetus demon for 2-4 years because the spirit has a right to be reborn and if he does not release it, the demon will turn on its master. And apparently they can do a lot of harm and are all knowing. And while the practice of fetus demon sorcery is not widespread apparently the belief is/was.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:58PM
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Andre
is on page 155 of 206
Taiwanese fear in aboriginal sorcery... hm, I did not hear anything about that so far. But it makes sense that something like this exists. And fetus demons are supposed to be particularly powerful because they are in a liminal state in which they are in touch with the secrets of the natural universe in ways that an adult ghost is not.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:37PM
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Andre
is on page 150 of 206
sorcerers controlling fetus demons by feeding them human blood... I did not expect that.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:27PM
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Andre
is on page 145 of 206
Gosh, there are so many prohibitions in regard as to when and where to have sex in this tract that you have to wonder when the people in question ever had any sex.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:24PM
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Andre
is on page 139 of 206
Conservatives adviced young people to inhibit their sexual instincts pointing out their duties with regard to the future of the race.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:24PM
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Andre
is on page 137 of 206
so while China back then tried to distance itself from yin/yang thought the believes about the effects of the "excessive loss of semen" continued to be a central theme of medical understanding.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:20PM
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Andre
is on page 136 of 206
Gosh, the Art of the Bedchamber straight up says that sexual desire must be regulated and you should not give in to carnal pleasure and you must think how it will affect your health. Which sounds like something that would inhibit homosexuality.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:17PM
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Andre
is on page 135 of 206
of course Focault seems to have believed that Daoist tracts tend to imply that they (and other cultures) did not have the same complexities of control and regulation of sexuality that is in ancient greek texts. He spoke of the erotic art of china, japan, India, Rome and the arab moslem societies in which "the truth is drawn from pleasure itself" . That was such nonsense.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:13PM
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Andre
is on page 133 of 206
A woman's orgasm is supposed to strengthen the energy of her partner?
— Jun 04, 2026 11:09PM
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Andre
is on page 132 of 206
I really have to keep this Taoist stuff about retaining semen in mind, the next time someone comes with some stuff about how great and wise traditional chinese medicine is. Because keep in mind, this stuff is from antiquity already, so not even the modern nonsense stuff.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:08PM
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Andre
is on page 129 of 206
That stuff really sounds like pretty normal behavior for 3 year olds and teenagers, no reason to attribute it to fetus ghosts.
— Jun 04, 2026 11:04PM
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Andre
is on page 124 of 206
So fetus ghosts also occur due to miscarriage... that was never mentioned before. So far it was always due to abortion.
— Jun 04, 2026 10:56PM
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Andre
is on page 116 of 206
why were practitioners of western medicine reluctant to answer the questions of patients back then?
— May 29, 2026 04:37AM
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Andre
is on page 110 of 206
So gifts for gods are basically bribes, for fetus ghosts it is either a bribe to stop the harrassment but when it is offerings that are stuff like toys that you would give a child, it is more like comfort.
— May 29, 2026 04:34AM
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Andre
is on page 98 of 206
The portrayal of ghosts is rather corporeal, which is why adult ghosts were depicted as more powerful than the child ghosts.
— May 29, 2026 04:32AM
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Andre
is on page 94 of 206
walking ten minutes to see a tempel? Sometimes it is way shorter to see one.
— May 29, 2026 04:10AM
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Andre
is on page 49 of 206
So fetus ghosts mature to 1-5 years old? How?
— May 29, 2026 03:59AM
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Andre
is on page 46 of 206
So the belief in fetus ghosts may also represent a shift in family dynamics in Taiwan.
— May 29, 2026 02:57AM
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Andre
is on page 44 of 206
So fetus ghost appeasement is kind of a reversal of confucian hierarchy.
— May 29, 2026 02:51AM
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Andre
is on page 42 of 206
so in Hong Kong there was the practice that if a mother-in-law "Diagnosed resentment" at the birth of a child (aka an evil soul present) the boys would be given away and the girls literally thrown away... wow.
— May 29, 2026 02:48AM
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Andre
is on page 37 of 206
so most practitioners of fetus ghost appeasements are claiming that it is not a japanese import but came from china... well, I certainly heard claims like that before. And in Japan there is a specific god for fetus ghosts but in Taiwan there is an equivalent god but other gods are invoked as well.
— May 29, 2026 02:40AM
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Andre
is on page 36 of 206
This book came out in 2001, so I wonder how the japanese influence on Taiwan looked back then in comparison to today.
— May 29, 2026 01:56AM
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Andre
is on page 34 of 206
So same thing as what I read before: the belief in fetus ghosts came from Japan.
— May 29, 2026 01:48AM
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Andre
is on page 29 of 206
3000 year history this time. That is not so common of a claim, usually you here the nationalistic 5000 year history nonsense.
— May 29, 2026 01:42AM
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Andre
is on page 27 of 206
so in traditional chinese thought the father should be a strict and distant authority figure.
— May 29, 2026 01:19AM
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Andre
is on page 25 of 206
imjuring oneself is to harm the property of one's parents and ancestors according to current confucian thought.
— May 29, 2026 01:11AM
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Andre
is on page 19 of 206
Well, it is debatable whether the porn these women watched did incpude stuff like bondage as he states but you have to wonder how bad the sex education in school was if these women state that they learned about sex via japanese porn.
— May 29, 2026 12:34AM
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