Institutional Heteronormativity, Hegemonic Masculinity, and Soft Resistance

Gay Academics’ Experiences in Chinese Academia

Bibliographic Data

ID12466137
AuthorsLe Cui (0000-0002-3010-0139, Kazakh-American University, corresponding author), J Burford (0000-0002-0707-7401, University of Warwick)
Year2025
Volume29
Issue5
Pages2206-2226
Publication date2025-05-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSexuality & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1095-5143 • E-ISSN: 1936-4822
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s12119-025-10364-x
OpenAlexW4410339480
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited43

Drawing on semi-structured interview data, this article examines how gay academics in China negotiate academic workplaces suffused with institutional heteronormativity and restrictive gender norms. It highlights gay academics’ accounts of leadership and institutional practices, revealing how heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity are institutionalised within higher education institutions. This study finds that Chinese higher education institutions sustain and reinforce sexual and gender norms in three ways: (1) by promoting and privileging heterosexual marriage, (2) by censoring queerness, and (3) by stigmatising and punishing non-normative masculinities. Within these repressive workplace settings, gay academics describe a scene of powerlessness where avenues for resistance appear to be slim. Nonetheless, gay academics identify small moments where rigid workplace norms may be countered, locating forms of ‘soft’ resistance possible within their conditions of account. By taking seriously these soft forms of agency, this article contributes to queer debates that push on the limits of recognisability of queer resistance itself

Hegemonic masculinity · Hegemony · Heteronormativity · Human sexuality · Masculinity · Political science · Politics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

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