Li Shiu Tong

Previously, we celebrated Magnus Hirschfeld’s legacy as one of the first Western scientific secular influences on queerness and sexuality studies. Today, we’ll share with you some underrepresented work done by his partner Li Shiu Tong, with whom he was in a committed polyamorous relationship.
Magnus and Li met at a Chinese feminist meeting in 1931, and would travel together around the world before returning to Berlin together. While Magnus attempted to name Li his intellectual heir and have him study under his tutelage at his sexology institute, by the time they could return after its destruction in 1933, Hitler had risen to power. The two were exiled to France and, until Magnus’ death in 1935, worked together on a memoir of their travels, denouncing imperialism and other such ideology. After Magnus’ passing, Li continued to pen manuscripts in sexology while studying around the world, particularly in Zurich, Hong Kong, and Vancouver. The data he gathered on human sexuality lead him to believe that 40% of people were bisexual, 20% homosexual, and 30% heterosexual. This contrasts with his mentor’s earlier assumptions that bisexuality was rare in and of itself, whereas Li found that human sexuality is far less rigid and structured than the current understanding. While Li never published his findings while he was alive, his work remains crucial to understanding human sexuality in a way divorced from preconceived societal notions.