Gaymi: Emergent masculinities and straight women's friendships with gay male best friends in Jinan, China

China's economic liberalization in 1978 created new gendered and sexual subjectivities. This essay examines a new internet meme gaymi (gay confidante) and its discursive construction of gay men as genteel embodiments of a women-friendly emergent masculinity (Inhorn and Wentzell, 2011). We argue that firstly, the gaymi discourse actually centers on the women who desire gay male companionship, because it ironically articulates the desires of these women and not those of the men. Secondly, strong links possibly exist between the rise of the gaymi and the popularity of the Korean Wave in China. Hence, the gaymi gestures at intra-Asian cultural globalization.