Constructing soft masculinity

Christian conversion and gendered experience among young Chinese Christian men in Beijing

Bibliographic Data

ID2185657
AuthorsWonji Yoo (0000-0001-7749-1862, University of Pittsburgh, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume52
Issue5
Pages539-561
Publication date2020-10-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueChinese Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2162-0555 • E-ISSN: 2162-0563
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21620555.2020.1799347
OpenAlexW3046596699
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited43

Considering the influence of religion on the gendered experiences of men, this article explores how “soft masculinity” is constructed among college-educated young Chinese Christian men in Beijing. This article argues that Christian conversion encourages Beijing’s young Christian men to embrace and achieve a relationship-oriented, emotion-centered, and humility-driven masculinity. As these young Chinese men convert to Protestant Christianity, they learn to express their emotions through crying and laughing, to build intimate relationships with God and Christian brothers and sisters, and to confess their weaknesses before others. New masculine virtues revolving around the ideas of emotionality, intimacy, and humility provide insight into how religious practices can be enacted to create soft Christian masculinity in a Chinese urban context in contrast to a more common hegemonic masculinity

Beijing · China · Christianity · Hegemonic masculinity · Humility · Masculinity · Political science · Protestantism · Sociology · Theology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · History · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology

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