Men Who "Marry Out": Redefining Chinese Masculinity and Patriarchy through Cross-Strait Marriages

Sara Friedman will discuss how men's gender identities as husbands and their expectations of patriarchal privilege are redefined through cross-border marriages, presented by the Fairbank Center

Sara Friedman, Associate Professor, Anthropology and Gender Studies, Indiana University

When scholarship on transnational marriage addresses questions of patriarchy, it is typically in reference to women who move across borders through marriage. But patriarchal values and gendered role expectations infuse immigration systems more generally, and hence they also influence the life experiences and masculine ideals of men who marry transnationally. Sara Friedman will discuss how men's gender identities as husbands and their expectations of patriarchal privilege are redefined through cross-border marriages that unite Chinese and Taiwanese spouses. The new gender configurations produced by these marriages reflect both the challenges of cross-border family formation and the different gender ideologies and practices that characterize life on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

For more information about Sara Friedman, click here