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Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor Public Lecture What happens to societies with a shortage of women? As the ‘male marriage squeeze’ intensifies in China, this is a question that has gained traction. This talk argues that the male marriage squeeze is not only a demographic problem, but also a discursive practice. As a discursive practice, Professor Eklund identifies two dominant constructs that mark how causes and consequences of the male marriage squeeze are understood in popular as well as political discourse. Masculine imaginaries attribute causes of involuntary bachelorhood primarily to ‘instrumental women’ or women as ‘gold-diggers’, who exercise dyadic power to advance wealth and status. Imagined masculinities underpin narratives about consequences of involuntary bachelorhood, constructing single men as frustrated, dangerous and prone to violence and crime, including sexual assault of women. Drawing on three recent research projects investigating the implications of male singlehood on intimate relations, health and wellbeing, and mate selection, Professor Eklund shows how the empirical realities of single men are much more complex. Yet, even with limited empirical grounding, both constructs have social and political implications. Masculine imaginaries fuel misogynistic sentiments, distrust towards women and removes attention from how structural inequalities based on class, rural/urban divides and gender generate stratified marriage markets and how gendered scripts of intimate relations are changing. By labelling single men as frustrated and dangerous, imagined masculinities not only stigmatises single men, but also reinforces hegemonic masculinity. Therefore, as a discursive practice, the male marriage squeeze has become part of creating the problem it intended to elucidate. Professor Lisa Eklund (Lund University) is Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor in the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies.

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