Masculine identity, street capital and sexual practices of a Chinese young man in Canada

ABSTRACT

Chinese people are currently the second largest visible minority group living in Canada; however, little is known about the sexual practices of Chinese youth living in Canada. Using a case study, we applied Bourdieu’s theory of social practise to illustrate how the sexual practices of a young Chinese immigrant man, Matthew, were shaped by his primary and secondary habituses, the cultural capital he held and competed for in each of the social fields he engaged in, and the prevailing patriarchal and heteronormative values in Canadian society (meta-field) that promote sexual conquests, hegemonic masculinity and homosocial solidarity. To develop effective sexual health promotion for Chinese youth living in Canada, multidisciplinary collaboration is needed to address the dynamic interplay of complex structural conditions that limit racialised young immigrant men’s options in life and put them at increased risk of engaging in street violence, alcohol and drug use and unsafe sexual practices.

华人目前是居住在加拿大的第二大可见少数民族；但是，我们对加国华裔青少年的性行为却知之甚少。通过一个案例分析，我们运用布迪厄的社会实践理论去阐述一位名为马修的年轻华裔移民男子的性行为是如何由数种互联条件塑造成形: 包括他的初期惯习(primary habitus)和次要惯习(secondary habitus), 他在参与某些社会场域所拥有及竞争取得的文化资本, 以及由蔓延在加拿大社会中元场域(meta-field) 的父权和异性恋规范价值观所推动的性征服, 霸权男子气概和同性社交化团结。为了有效地增强在加华裔青少年的性健康，我们需要多学科合作来解决复杂的结构条件之间的相互影响, 这些影响可能限制种族化年轻移民男性群体的生活选择,使他们更容易踏入街头暴力, 酗酒和吸毒, 以及不安全的性行为。

KEYWORDS:

• Bourdieu
• Chinese
• masculinity
• sexual health
• youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. We chose Matthew for the case study because his lived experiences demonstrated how sexual practices are shaped by his habitus and the various types of capital he held in multiple competing fields of education, homosocial solidarity, masculine competition, sexual attractiveness, peer popularity and familial commitment, etc.

Additional information

Funding

The original study is funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR IGH – New National and International Perspectives on Gender and Health Fellowship received by the first author; award code: 200602GNI-164238-143336).