男性特质视角在西方明清研究中的运用——以方法论的转向为中心

Application of Masculinity in Western Studies of Ming-Qing:Centred on a Shift in Methodology

随着西方性别研究和明清女性研究的发展,男性特质成为西方明清研究的重要视角。第一阶段(20世纪80年代末至2001年间)明清男性特质研究以反本质化为立场,分析部分男性群体对传统男性角色的偏离,以打破社会性别与生理性别的本质联系。第二阶段(2002年至今)研究以反同质化为立场,揭示明清男性特质的多样建构及父权制的运作方式。对社会性别权力关系讨论的不足是明清男性特质研究的主要问题。明清男性特质研究需要利用男性对女性的拥有权、女性主体性和男性同性社交欲望等概念,以深入考察社会性别权力关系,更好地实现批判父权制的目标。

Under the influence of Gender Studies and Women＇s Studies in the West, western studies of Imperial China during the Ming-Qing dynasties have adopted masculinity as an important perspective in two stages. During the first stage from the late 1980s to 2001, the perspective of masculinity in western studies of Ming-Qing Imperial China took an anti-essentialist stand in analyzing the ambivalent relationships between certain male groups and conventional masculinity so as to challenge the essentialist understanding that gender was determined by sex. Since 2002 western studies of Ming-Qing Imperial China have adopted a view against homogeneity of masculinities, and attempted to confirm the plurality of Ming-Qing masculinities and to illuminate the strategies that existed to maintain patriarchal power. A main problem with applying masculinity in western studies of Ming-Qing lies in its neglect of gender-based power relationships. This paper argues that, in order to effectively question the legitimacy of patriarchal system, western studies of Ming-Qing Imperial China from a perspective of masculinity should examine gender-based power relationships and expose aspects of these relationships including men＇s access to women, female subjectivity and men＇s homosocial desire.