Sensuality as Subversion: Doing Masculinity with Chinese Australian Professionals

Abstract

Within western gender structures, dominant discourses of Asian men as weak, feminized and asexual continue to render Asian masculinities subordinate to white hegemonic ideals. Although research of gender in organization studies has revealed important insights into how gender might be redone or undone, non-white voices remain marginalized in this critical project. This article explores through in-depth interviews the ways by which Chinese cis-male professionals in Australia attempt to coopt desexualizing discourses and ‘do’ masculinity through sensuality. Specifically, the findings show how their sensuality is practised across various dimensions at work and beyond, including via the presentation of the self, relationships with others and representations in social texts. In presenting the voices of Asian men, this article seeks to illuminate their individual and collective pursuits for decolonization, agency and pleasure.