Considerable male anxiety surrounds female bodies as sites of reproductive potential and sights of erotic allure. Women’s drives for self-determination and independent action can run counter to men’s sexual desires and the state’s authority to regulate gender and sexuality through laws governing inheritance, marriage, childbearing, and the custody of minors. In post-Mao China, sex meets the state in specific ways that reverberate throughout the society. With the revival of Confucian values and private property, inheritance and ownership of real estate take on added importance as the PRC reverts to traditional preferences for male heirs. As the neoliberal state retreats from guaranteed elder and childcare, domestic responsibilities fall increasingly on women with the expectation that sons will marry suitable brides to produce heirs and take care of aging in-laws. These expectations come up against the consequences of the One Child Policy (1980–2016), which has led to pressures to abort or abandon girls in favor of sons, while placing a premium on women of childbearing age in increasingly short supply. As state-sponsored employment in urban factories and rural communes shrank at the same time, the informal economy grew to accommodate displaced workers. Deng Xiaoping “let some get rich first” as part of his Reform Era policies, and a portion of this disposable income went into prostitution, gambling, narcotics, and other illicit pursuits. Human trafficking of women and girls increased to fill the sexual and reproductive void for Chinese men.