Screw you, warrior wolves!: the ambivalent politics of satirizing militarized masculinity in neo/non-liberal China

Abstract

Satire can function both as a form of resistance that unsettles existing gender orders and as a mechanism through which such orders are reproduced. This study situates the satirical engagement with Wolf Warrior-style militarized masculinity within the context of neo/non-liberal China, examining the agentic potential of user practices and their complex relationship with gender norms. Drawing on digital ethnography and critical visual analysis, the study identifies three primary modes of satire: double-voiced parody, narrative rewriting and visual manipulation. These practices, to some extent, expose the performativity and instability of militarized masculinity as embedded in China’s historical and cultural context. However, the study also argues that such satire does not constitute a form of direct political confrontation; rather, it operates as a soft contestation within the constraints of strict censorship and ideological boundaries. Within this ambiguous and depoliticized mode of expression, satire may simultaneously undermine symbolic authority while inadvertently reinforcing the normative centrality of militarized masculinity.