“Saving Our Boys!”: Do Chinese Boys Have a Masculinity Crisis?

Abstract

Highlights The issue of the boy (masculinity) crisis was examined in both the global and Chinese contexts. To examine the authenticity of the masculinity crisis in China, we first historicized the debate on the boy crisis between Yunxiao Sun (孙云晓) and An'qi Xu (徐安琪) in China and its implications. Then, we examined the contributing factors to the masculinity crisis from the social-ecological perspective, which encompasses the familial (helicopter parenting style), educational (burdensome academic pressure), and societal (feminine and misleading social media) factors. We concluded that the Chinese masculinity crisis has evolved into a socio-cultural issue in recent years. We suggest the potentials of gender-relevant pedagogy and the collective capability among various stakeholders in addressing the boy crisis.