The spectre of the sissy : Heteromasculine anxieties in Chinese beauty vlogging for men

Hird, Derek (2025) The spectre of the sissy : Heteromasculine anxieties in Chinese beauty vlogging for men. NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies. ISSN 1890-2146 (In Press)

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Abstract

Male beauty vlogging is flourishing in China despite fears of a masculinity ‘crisis’, sissyphobia and LGBT crackdowns. Key questions arise: To what extent does male beauty vlogging challenge the notion of a crisis of masculinity and offer new, positive gender expressions for men? To what extent does it reinforce hierarchical and oppressive formations of gender and sexuality? This article analyses three male beauty vloggers’ promotion of a ‘fake-natural look for straight men’ involving non-visible makeup, to allay straight-identifying men’s fear of being called ‘sissy’. A further discussion examines a male beauty vlogger’s critique of the feminization of visible makeup-wearing men. The analysis is informed by an understanding of how the heterosexual matrix shapes emerging hybrid, ‘inclusive’ masculinities that reflect cosmopolitan desires and anxieties. The vloggers extend the boundaries of ‘straight masculinity’ with a new aesthetic for straight men: a fresh, clean, refined, elegant, confident and energized look that seeks to replace stereotypical twentieth-century models of ‘tough guy’ masculinity and to shift gender stereotypes that associate makeup and skincare solely with women. Yet, the vloggers also reinforce existing gender and sexual inequalities through explicit rejection of male femininity and use of sissyphobic language.