Decoding the gendered design and (dis)affordances of face-editing technologies in China

•Designers encode their biases into artifacts. Beauty apps have been found to embed a "programmed masculinity" that is binary, stereotypical, and immutable, leading to a "gender panopticon" that monitors and disciplines men's gender expressions.•Beauty apps' design has a discrepancy between what they offer and the needs of male users who have diverse masculinity perceptions.•Beauty apps majorly reflect feminized design, thus stereotyping gender roles and expressions. The limited features for men further this stereotype.•Technology can marginalize and exclude certain users, particularly those from socially disadvantaged groups. Beauty apps perpetuate strict beauty standards, which can marginalize those whose appearance doesn't fit certain ideals.•For equitable design, apps should allow users to define their gender, ensuring a wide representation in terms of icons, marketing, labels, and functionality. AI-powered face-editing technologies, such as face filters and beauty apps, are widely used for appearance enhancement. However, such tools often perpetuate rigid beauty standards, thereby risking the reinforcement of harmful gender norms. While prior research primarily focuses on the experiences of female users of face-editing technologies, this study scrutinizes their impact on male users. We examine the gendered design of face-editing tools through a feature analysis of a set of Chinese beauty apps (Study 1), followed by interviews with 30 male users to understand their perceptions and experiences regarding these apps (Study 2). Our findings reveal that beauty apps potentially obstruct male users' efforts in appearance enhancement and embody hegemonic masculinity. To overcome the disaffordances of beauty apps, male users employed various strategies, including manual editing, self-censorship, and social validation. Drawing on these findings, we propose recommendations for more inclusive, gender-sensitive design in face-editing technologies.