Negotiating New Asian-American Masculinities: Attitudes and Gender Expectations

Abstract

Historically, U.S. institutional practices have rendered Asian-American men as simultaneously hypermasculine and emasculated. Today, the model minority myth and asexual media representations have emphasized the feminized Asian-American male. Yet, no empirical study has examined how Asian-American men construct their own masculinities. Toward this end, this study sought to examine: (a) how college-age Asian-American and white men express their masculinities, (b) how Asian-American and white women perceive Asian-American masculinities, and (c) how Asian-American men negotiate their gender expectations. Through quantitative analysis of surveys, we found that U.S.-born and immigrant Asian men view their masculinity as distinct from white hegemonic masculinity. Unlike white men, Asian-American men did not view their masculinity in opposition to their femininity. Some Asian-American men, especially the U.S.-born, appeared to be creating a new, more flexible masculinity—one free from male dominance. U.S.-born Asian men linked their masculinity with certain caring characteristics and were the only men's group willing to do domestic tasks. Women viewed Asian-American men as having more traditional gender roles and being more nurturing, in contrast to their views of white men, which matched American norms of masculinity. Overall, these results contribute to the masculinity literature by showing how Asian-American men negotiate their contradictory positions as members of a privileged gender group and subordinate racial groups.

Further examination of the factor structure of the Male Role Norms Inventory-Short Form (MRNI-SF): Measurement considerations for women, men of color, and gay men.

“…These results are consistent with previous findings emphasizing the importance of emotional restraint in Asian cultures (Wong, Nguyen, Wang, Chen, & Steinfeldt, 2012), which may facilitate more endorsement of emotional control TMI. Some evidence also suggests that Asian men may be less likely to define their masculinity in opposition to femininity than White men (e.g., Chua & Fujino, 1999), which may suppress their endorsement of avoidance of femininity. However, although these individual item intercepts were non-invariant, the fact that partial scalar invariance was supported by two of the three invariance procedures suggests that the MRNI-SF subscale and total scores may generally reflect comparable scaling between Asian and White men.…”

Multicultural coping: Chinese Canadian adolescents, male gender role conflict, and psychological distress.

“…Historically, men of Asian backgrounds have occupied a position of contradiction in that popular stereotypes of the early to mid 1900s portrayed Asian men as treacherous, dirty criminals intent on sexual dominance over Euro American women (Chua & Fujino, 1999) while simultaneously portraying them in ways counter to traditional masculinity, engaging in domestic tasks for employment, for example. These perceptions served to govern who benefited from the rapid economic expansion experienced in the post-World War II era, in effect keeping Asian men marginalized and preventing their economic success while also relying on them for cheap labor.…”

“…The dominant perception of Asian men today is an outgrowth of this portrayal, in that it still serves to marginalize them while relying on them to work, contribute to the economy, and raise their families with minimal demands on society. Chua and Fujino (1999) called it the image of a "model minority" (p. 395), because the dominant culture sees men of Asian backgrounds as being hardworking, economically responsible, and in charge of families who instill proper (i.e., dominant) values in their children.…”

“…In the case of men of Asian descent, for example, much of the early empirical work described their experiences with masculinity merely in direct comparison to those of Western men. From this difference perspective, men of Asian backgrounds were seen as more willing to engage in domestic tasks; their interpersonal style was more polite and obedient, and they were less prone to confrontation (Chua & Fujino, 1999). Using a more culturally responsive framework, however, Liu (2002) eloquently described how Asian men must strive to occupy a "middle ground .…”

Demographic and personal correlates of new masculinities: Focus on the role of emotional intelligence

“…Most current research operates under the assumption that the same factors are at work in the formation of non-traditional or "new" masculinities. Among the most prominent environmental factors mentioned are parental socialization and exposure to parents' gender roles (Beal, 1994), interactions with peers (Eagly, 1987), culture and societal messages conveyed by a broad range of agents, from popular media to schools and family circles (Chua and Fujino, 2007;Rewaland Kapur, 1991). Additional factors such as changing work and career paths, economic factors in the job-market, immigration and cyber-social networks are also mentioned in the current literature on gender role formation and change (Chua and Fujino, 2007;Marchetti, 2012;Solari, 2006).…”