Constructing resistant gender identities on Chinese social media: A multimodal discourse analysis of Chinese male beauty vloggers’ videos on Bilibili

Abstract

In recent years, digital and social media technologies have played an increasingly important role in challenging traditional gender norms and promoting gender equality and more diverse gender expression in China. This study examines the construction of resistant gender identities by male internet influencers through a case study of videos by male beauty vloggers posted on Bilibili, a popular Chinese video-sharing website. Drawing upon a social semiotic multimodal approach to social media and an evaluative attribute framework, this study analyzes 83 videos by popular Chinese male beauty vloggers. The analysis highlights three levels at which male beauty vloggers construct resistance identities, namely resisting stereotypical masculinity, challenging traditional gender-based occupational discrimination, and confronting heterosexual hegemony. The study contributes to the growing research on gender discourses shaped by social media technologies and a more nuanced understanding of Chinese masculinity in the digital sphere. It also provides methodological implications for analyzing video data on social media.