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<p>This study explores the phenomenon of “sissy” culture within China’s new media landscape and examines how digital platforms facilitate the construction, performance, and negotiation of non-normative masculine identities. Through reflexive thematic analysis of content creator narratives (n = 12), fan community interactions (n = 25), and platform observations on Douyin, this research reveals complex relationships between gender identity, sexuality, and digital empowerment. The findings demonstrate how “sissy” identity serves as both a site of cultural resistance and commercial exploitation, challenging traditional masculinity while navigating heteronormative expectations and maintaining claims to heterosexual identity. New media platforms provide unprecedented visibility for feminine-presenting men while simultaneously subjecting them to algorithmic control and market forces. This research contributes to understanding how marginalized gender identities negotiate visibility and vulnerability in China’s digital economy, offering the concept of “heterofeminine masculinity” as a theoretical framework for analysing gender‒sexuality intersections in non-Western digital contexts.</p>

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Remodeling Masculinity: How New Media is Shaping the “Sissy” Identity of Modern China

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年7月18日

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  • Chunfa Zhou,
  • Pan Chen

摘要

This study explores the phenomenon of “sissy” culture within China’s new media landscape and examines how digital platforms facilitate the construction, performance, and negotiation of non-normative masculine identities. Through reflexive thematic analysis of content creator narratives (n = 12), fan community interactions (n = 25), and platform observations on Douyin, this research reveals complex relationships between gender identity, sexuality, and digital empowerment. The findings demonstrate how “sissy” identity serves as both a site of cultural resistance and commercial exploitation, challenging traditional masculinity while navigating heteronormative expectations and maintaining claims to heterosexual identity. New media platforms provide unprecedented visibility for feminine-presenting men while simultaneously subjecting them to algorithmic control and market forces. This research contributes to understanding how marginalized gender identities negotiate visibility and vulnerability in China’s digital economy, offering the concept of “heterofeminine masculinity” as a theoretical framework for analysing gender‒sexuality intersections in non-Western digital contexts.