Devoted, Caring, and Home loving: A Chinese Portrayal of Western Masculinity in Transnational Cyberspace Romance

Discussions of cross-border marriages between women from developing countries and men from economically advanced countries often focus on the objectification of women, while the process through which men are presented as “marriageable entities” is rarely examined. In this article, I explore the case of China, where middle-aged, divorced women are seeking second-chance marriages with Western men via international cyber-dating agencies. Contrary to the stereotypical portrayal of Western men as rich and powerful in the Chinese media, many of the Western men enrolled at the cyber-dating agencies I am studying earn a modest income. I analyze the agencies’ portrayal of their Western male clients as caring, family oriented, and worthy of marrying despite their lack of wealth. Results from this article show that masculinity is fluid, malleable, and continuously being reconstructed in accordance with the changing demographic and socioeconomic patterns of the globalizing world.