Masculinity on Display: Power, Performance, and Gendered Interactions in Chinese Douyin Culture

This study investigates gender representation and power dynamics in Chinese short video culture, using the Douyin vlogger “Tianshui’s Man” as a case study. It explores howmasculinity is constructed and negotiated in his content, where commercial goals intersect with self-objectification and pseudo-intimacy to attract viewers. Drawing on Connell’s hegemonic masculinity theory, this study reveals that despite moments of self-objectification, the vlogger’s gender performance ultimately reinforces traditional gender hierarchies. Though appearing to challenge hegemonic masculinity, viewers’ interactions often complicity uphold it, especially through the dynamics of parasocial relationships and hierarchical audience-vlogger interactions. This case illustrates the covert perpetuation of hegemonic masculinity in the context of Chinese short video platforms and thus contributes to our understanding on how traditional, stereotypical, and hegemonic gender roles are covertly and complicitly reinforced in the digital space.