21세기 중국의 남성성 담론 - ‘꽃미남(娘炮)’ 비판에서 ‘돌보는 아버지’의 등장까지

Abstract

Chinese society, which has adopted the pursuit-type industrialization model, has been pursuing the “localization” of academic studies and discourse after the 2008 US financial crisis and the hosting of the Beijing Olympics. This study examines how the discussion of masculinity in Chinese society develops under such a background of the times. In China in 2010, the decline in academic ability and physical strength of male students was combined with “gender” and discussed as a “social problem,” gender conflicts in China have been intensifying in educational sites, sports, and state-run discourse. Furthermore, this has developed into a discourse on the national crisis that “when men become feminine, the state becomes feminine,” and disparaging of “femininity” is becoming explicit. However, in daily life, the new generation born in the 1980s and 90s tends to neutralize, with little resistance to “feminine” temperament and no clear boundaries of gender roles in home care. This study understands that this misogyny and Chinese society’s desire for strong masculinity is due to the external conflict that China experienced in the 21st century, that is, the sense of crisis caused by the Sino-US conflict, and considered the education community criticizing “niangpao 娘炮 (feminine man),” the national crisis discourse, and the “straight man” debate showing off masculinity. However, this discourse reveals a considerable gap with the gender perception of the new generation. Therefore, unlike the nationalist discourse that pursues strong masculinity, in reality, it can be said that the dominant and hegemonic masculinity as a governing tool is marginalizing or disappearing day by day.