Queering the Global Filipina Body by Gina K. Velasco

Author:Gina K. Velasco [Velasco, Gina K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Ethnic Studies, American, Asian American Studies, Gender Studies, Prostitution & Sex Trade
ISBN: 9780252052354
Google: v5cBEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2020-11-16T04:18:44+00:00

Figure 3.3 Photograph courtesy of the Mail Order Brides / M.O.B.

M.O.B.’s performance of ethnic drag demonstrates how racial/ethnic and gender performativity is an essential aspect of labor within capitalist globalization.33 The next still image in the video shows M.O.B. lined up in a row wearing whiteface, which contrasts with their drawn-in, heart-shaped dark lips. Their vacant facial expressions and identical pink dresses with elaborate lacy white collars emphasize the doll-like effect of their countenances. The stark contrast of their white makeup with their brown skin makes evident the performance of race essential to the figuring of Filipina bodies as naturalized sources of domestic, affective, and sexual labor. M.O.B. implicitly critique the logic of exchangeability—visualized through their identical pink outfits—that characterizes third world women as replaceable sources of devalued labor. In a voice-over, one M.O.B. explains her decision to serve as a professional bridesmaid: “I remember when we first heard our calling.… Every couple is special; every couple needs a different kind of support.” M.O.B.’s satirical description of their vocational “calling” as professional bridesmaids highlights the discursive construction of Filipina/o workers as “caring” and “warm,” which serves to naturalize the affective and domestic labor that they provide. In the background of the voice-over testimonials, saccharine electronic music plays, much like the musical accompaniment of a karaoke video (another genre that M.O.B. employ in their art). The next set of images implies the availability of the professional bridesmaids for sexual labor as well. In a faux southern accent, a client describes his recent wedding: “My cousin Francis came to town not knowing no one. He’s real awkward with the ladies and such … and Neneng, she made him feel right at home.” This voice-over is accompanied by still images of Neneng seducing the groom’s cousin, much to his surprise and delight. This scene invokes the figure of the Filipina sex worker, particularly the role of Filipinas as overseas entertainers in Japan. As such, Neneng suggests both the sexual availability of Filipina entertainers and the affective labor of making Francis feel “right at home.” In contrast to the indignation with which Bagong Pinay depicts the sexual labor of Filipina mail-order brides, M.O.B. use the humorous method of feminist camp to emphasize the historical and contemporary discourses that position Filipina mail-order brides as sources of sexual labor. M.O.B.’s invocation of the Filipina sex worker, made up in whiteface, calls to mind the figure of the geisha.34 Within the Western popular imagination, the figure of the geisha is the penultimate Orientalized embodiment of affective and sexual labor; her role is not solely to satiate the sexual desires of heterosexual men but to make them feel comfortable and sexually attractive. The Orientalist representation of the geisha / sex worker / bridesmaid within AABNAB reveals the necessity of ethnic drag, a specifically ethnic/racialized performance of gendered affective and sexual labor intrinsic to the work that Filipina women do for a global economy. M.O.B.’s invocation of the figure of the geisha also references the history and ongoing present

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