Bodies, Letters, Catalogs: Filipinas in Transnational Space by Center for Art and Thought [defunct organization; historic/preserved artefact]

Bodies, Letters,Catalogs FILIPINAS IN TRANSNATIONAL SPACE

Transnationalspace keeps the Philippineeconomyafloat.The top three exports-electronics,garments,and remittancesfromoverseascontract workers-have consistentlybeen reliable sources of foreignexchange, whichsustainthe economyespeciallyin timesof crisis.The Filipinaand her body prefigurethisspace, movingfromworkin the home to homeworkoutsidethe home. Filipinashave been integratedintothe circuitsof in variousways: as sweatshopfactoryworkersin multitransnationalism national corporationswithinthe national space, and as entertainers, domestichelpers,nurses,and mail-orderbrides in international spaces. These spatial locations,afterall, are artifactsof power relations.The analysisof these various locationsremaps the discursivecircuitsin the ofpowerthatplaces bodies and nationsin a transnaoblique enforcement tional juncture.This articleexaminesthe geopoliticsof Filipina bodies inscribedin transnational space, specifically focusingon theproblematics of the mail-orderbridephenomenonas a social and politicalpractice. Advertisedmostlyfor middle-class,elderlywhitemen, mail-order brides embodythe hyperrealshoppingforthe FirstWorldmale and the of women and the Third World.In the past hyperrealcommodification ten years, 50,000 Filipinas came into the United States as mail-order brides. Each year,some 19,000 Filipinasleave the Philippinesto unite withhusbandsand fiancesofothernationalities, themajorityof whomare in the United States. This articleprovidesa cognitivemap of the discourse of mail-orderbrides,analyzingthe marketingmode (catalogs in etc.) as wellas at thesocioparticular)at theculturallevel(race,sexuality, The level political (economics,development,geopolitics,im/migration). discourseof mail-orderbrides in transnational space posits women and At the same time,however, as sitesof critiqueand complicity. femininity the discourseallowsforrecuperating modes of activitythatare a conduit forand circumvention of the mail-orderbridebusinessesand theirmale clientele. The discourseof mail-orderbridesis situatedin the historicalposispace inscribedin colonial, tioningof Filipinabodies intoa transnational and capitalisthistories.The discourseis also connectedto the militarist, practicesof shopping,especiallyas thesepracticesare placed in the network of the postal and mail-orderingsystems.The various circuitsof Social Text48, Vol. 14, No. 3, Fall 1996. CopyrightC 1996 by Duke University Press.

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Roland B. Tolentino

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of Cherry Blossoms. Mail-orderbrides.Reprintedwithpermission

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postmodern"love connections"-for example, televisiondatingshows, phone sex, phone dating,and Internetsex-furtherlinkthe discourseto Americanpopular culture.My analysisof the packagingof mail-order brides links the marketingstrategiesused to two kinds of nostalgia: a of nuclear-family fantasythatsupportsgenderand sexual reinforcement and a colonialistfantasythatbringsracialconquest loss and recuperation, and rescueintoconsideration. The term mail-order the basic operationsof bride,while signifying and a or efficient of bodies over more less currency exchange postal netalso a of for the connotes whole associations work, regime pejorative woman (re)situatedin thisposition.This regimehas preventedme from withthesewomen,whosepositionsas exchange workingethnographically brides,forthemostpart,remainindividuallykeptsecrets.While thereis a generalknowledgeof theexistenceand operationsof mail-orderbrides, the networkis poised to conceal this aspect of the women'spasts, thus much more difficult to undertake.Since thereis no makingethnography as subject,thebody can onlybe locatedin geopolitical body constitutable terms.Ethnographicstudiesof the domesticscene have suggestedthat, withinthisspace, womenmake sense of theirlivesand thuspose resistant and subversivepleasure.In contrast,the mail-orderbridehas been confinedin a commoditytradedevoid of pleasureforthisbody.The dominant position undertakenby leftistwomen's groups on the issue is to definemail-orderbridesas exportedvictimsin a neocolonialtrade.While literalviolencedoes existas a constantthreatto mail-orderbrides,various formsof pleasure and mobilityalso underwritethe exchange.Nonetheless, my effortsto findFilipinas in Los Angeles placed/locatedin this positionfailedto yieldan interviewee.Realizingthebacklashof "coming out,"thesewomenhave chosen to remainin the closet,to pass whenever and possible withina systemthat harps upon both multiculturalism racism. 1

My own subjectpositionand mystakein thispaper need to be foregrounded.As a Filipinoexchangescholarin theUnitedStates,mycritical intentionis to initiatea discussionof issues thatcontinueto be linkedto the colonial and neocolonialhistoriesand institutions(primarily)of the Philippinesand the United States. The discourse of mail-orderbrides of the Philippine-U.S.relationship.At the very certainlyis symptomatic least, I hope this articlebecomes a "consciousness-raising"attemptat drawingattentionto the discourse,one whose conditionsare inequitably moredetrimental to themail-orderbridethanto theFirstWorldgroom.I nor a victimageparadigmfor do notintendto constructa rescuenarrative themail-orderbride;bothinevitably positionwomenas oppressed,taunting liberationas keyto the question"What is to be done?" By examining theconditionsin whichthemail-orderbridediscoursegetsconstructed,I Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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hope thatI am able to call intofocussome of theissues and stakesin this and theimplicit networks, discourse,itsrelationto otherpower/knowledge I hope for and explicitstrugglesentailedin thesediscoursesand networks. to occur which,in turn,maylead towardsome theootherinterventions reticaland practicalempowerment tacticsfortheactualmarginalized bodies/voiceswho experiencetheeffectsof colonialand neocolonialhistories in theirdailystruggles.

Multinationaland TransnationalBodies Bodiesaremapsofpowerandidentity.

and Women -Donna Haraway,Simians,Cyborgs,

The bodybecomesa usefulforceonlyifitis botha productive bodyanda subjected body.

-Michel Foucault,Disciplineand Punish

Donna Haraway'sfeminist-socialist mythof thecyborgexposessome posin the bodies of sible openingsforresituating pleasureand responsibility womenin transnational space. As transnational space is set intoplace by information technology,the cyborgbecomes "a hybridof machineand a organism, creatureof social realityas well as fiction,"able to breach boundariesbetweenhumansand animals,organismsand machines,and so on.2 However,when the cyborgrefersto the body of a Third World womanemployedin quota workin a multinational sweatshop,theissuesof in in their the confusion of boundaries" and "pleasure "responsibility construction"are easilydampened:What pleasure,if any,is allowedin is calledintofocus?3Like Fouthisspace? Whatresponsibility (therefore) cault's markingof the body as embodyingpower, Haraway's project remainsonlypotential:politicalwithinthetendencyof academiato imagresistant.She concludes ine such powerto be realizableand (fictionally) her essaywitha textualreadingof women'swritings, shifting gearsin the transnational circuitsto the radicalityofthecyborgmythfromtheoretical the social. The move is probsphereof literarymetaphorsin refiguring lematicto theextentthatitmarginalizesthesocial to privilegethetextual. Where,then,is the realbody of theThird Worldwomanin transnational space positioned? On the one hand, Haraway would inevitablyreferto Third World women in transnationalspace as "real life cyborgs [who] are actively thetextsof theirbodies" and, therefore, would claimthat"surrewriting vivalis the stakesin thisplay of readings"4;on theotherhand,theissues of real cyborgsand survivalhave yetto move beyondtherhetoricof the 52

Roland B. Tolentino

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myth.The myth'sradicalpotentialshaveyetto yieldto a practiceof affina practiceHarawaysituatesas thecollectivemanifesityand networking, tationof the politicsof the cyborg.To a large extentand thoughproblematicevenin theFirstWorldcontext,Haraway'smythaddressesa First Worldaudience able to realize,in some individualizing form,the body's I don'tknowhow thispleasurecorrespondsto any pleasurein technology. Philippinepracticein racial,ethnic,gender,sex, and class termsthatare able to recuperatesome progressivestrainsformarginalizedgroups.In and racializedlabor-capitalsituationsin theThirdWorld,techpatriarchal powerrelations,an apparatus nologyremainsan apparatusthatprefigures utilizedbypoliticaland culturalauthority(as in "technologiesof power") towardtheproductionof a hegemonicmoment,a mode of disciplining(in Foucauldian terms)thebody. By being circulated in transnationalspace, the Filipina's body becomesa symptomofthesedebates.On theone hand,thebodybecomes a tool for (limited)economic empowerment, placing the Filipina in the role as "wage earner"or "head of thefamily."On theother nontraditional hand,theFilipina'sbody becomes theveryrequisiteforbeingpositioned in this "new" economic situation:her supposedly nimble fingersand perfecteyesight,her youth,her unmarriedstatusall add up to a stereocircuits.Her traditionalrole as body in transnational typicalperformative homemakerallows her body to performsimilarworkoutsidethe home. and transnaThe body is integratedintothe circuitsof multinationalism tionalism,generatinga politicaleconomymarkedby a highlysexualized wereonlytoo eagerto provide divisionoflabor.ThirdWorldgovernments Third in of the most this habitatwhich,as World,is imbued withthe of poverty:womenbear theburdenof theimpactof changes feminization in transnationalcircuits(debt servicing,debt rescheduling,value-added taxationschemes, structuraladjustments,etc.) while at the same time as homemakers.Aftertheirown wage work,women are still functioning cooking,householdchores,and childrearexpectedto do themarketing, ing.And, as FirstWorldwomenvacatethedomesticspheres,thedemand laborhas shiftedfocusto ThirdWorldwomen'sdomestic forinternational rolesand labor.At thesame time,men are forcedto adopt nontraditional attitudes:as womenwork,men accepttheidea ofwage-earning couples as femaleproa necessityforeconomicsurvival,and theylearntraditionally and so on-to bettertheirchances of work fessions-nursing,midwifery, abroad. and transnaThese have been thegendereffectsof multinationalism tionalism.Neocolonialism, the postindependencecondition(s) arising fromthemovementofthecolonialintothepostcolonialsocietiesin theera and of late capitalism,is translatedthroughmultinationalism, militarism, and transnationalism multinationalism While transnationalism. present Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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As morestringent policiesare activatedto and systematize to ensure smooth-flowing the operations, absence of for restrictions multinational businessis borne eventually bythe bodiesof workers.

seeminglydivergent patternsof economicdevelopmentand capitalmoverefersto theoperations ment,forpurposesofthisarticlemultinationalism refersto thoseoccuroccurringin nationalspaces whiletransnationalism in international areas the the two However, spaces. ring differentiating in Both are of processesinevitably collapse practice. examples attemptsto master and command space as a means of controllingclass struggle. and transnationalism Among the tacticsemployedby multinationalism are geographicalmobilityand decentralization, deindustrialization and and investment and industrialization, capital flight. zones (EPZs) Beginningwithmultinationalism, export-processing were establishedby the InternationalMonetaryFund and WorldBank thatsoughtto (IMF-WB) prescriptionforThird Worldindustrialization induce foreigninvestments. the the IMF-WB has posiEPZs, Through tionedtheThirdWorldand ThirdWorldwomenin theirplaces,perpetuatingitsfunctionto overseetheir"development"bymarkingofftheThird Worldand ThirdWorldwomenin termsofcost-benefit analysisof natural and laborresources.These cost-benefit thedirection analysesforeground ofmultinational that national boundaries and collapses capital homogenizes women's bodies. Multinationalcorporationsare guaranteedmaximum withincentivesincludingcheap labor; the profitsfor theirinvestments absence of customsduties,importquotas,and foreignexchangecontrols; an assuranceof unlimitedprofits,repatriation, long tax holidays,cheap loans, and subsidizedutilities;exemptionsfromlocal provincialtaxes;the laws; and tolerancefor100 percentforeignownerpresenceof antistrike and to ensure ship.As morestringent policiesare activatedto systematize the absence of for restrictions multinational smooth-flowing operations, businessis eventually bornebythebodies ofworkers.Originallyintended as sites forthe freeflowof technologicalexchange,EPZs have become conduitsof global assemblylines and virtualsweatshops.By 1983 electronicproductsproducedin theseEPZs have alreadybecomethenumber one exportof thePhilippines. In this sexual division of labor, heavy industriessuch as mining, and machinery and equipmentmanufacturing petroleumrefining, generally utilizemale labor,whilelightindustriessuch as food processingand the manufacture of textiles,garments,footwear,tobacco products,and pharmaceuticalsutilizemostlyfemalelabor.Women'sbodypartsare idealized, "synergizing"nimblefingers,20/20 eyesights,and hardybodies in the work.In short,womenare preferred forall performanceof multinational thestereotypical reasons:lowerlabor costs;manual dexterity; greatertolerance of and betterperformancein repetitiveand monotonoustasks; reliability;patience; low expectationsand lack of employmentalternato put up withdead-endjobs; highervoluntary quitting tives;a willingness has providedwomen withwork rates; and so on.5 As multinationalism Roland B. Tolentino

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space, however,it has done so withoutradical departurefromwomen's becomes the traditionalsocial roles and functions.Women'smarginality and transnationalism, essence of multinationalism which,premisedupon these traditionalmodes of oppression women's oppression,reconstitute for theirown economic and culturalprerogatives.This reconstitution amounts to the exploitationof women and the Third World in global terms. transnational stratified of the Third Worldwomenare further withinthe hierarchy multinational paradigm:young,single,childlesswomenare preferable(in fact,to be thirtyyearsold is to be old in the trade), and 85 percentof Most employersprefer womenworkersare underthe age of twenty-five. reasons:employersare oftenreluctant to youngerwomenforthefollowing benefits;singlewomen are consideredmore pay the generousmaternity flexibleand reliablethanmarriedwomen-freerto workshifthours and with lower rates of absenteeismcaused by child-careproblems;young since theyare seen to have better unmarriedwomen are more efficient, health,eyesight,and physicalreflexeson averagethanolderwomen,and theyare less likelyto be fatiguedfromthe burdenof combiningfactory workwithunpaid domesticworkat home;employersthemselvesarereluctant to disruptfamilylife,believingthatmarriedwomen belong in the home; employingyoungsinglewomenensuresa rateof naturalor voluntaryturnoverwhenthewomenleave to marryor raise children.6 betweenthe spaces of wage work,the femalebody is Furthermore, in therespiteof actualmultinational also reconstituted work.Management of womenworkersbypromotingsoft-sellconspicexploitsthefemininity uous consumptionin its "extra-occupational"activities.Cosmetic and Western-style clothingbazaars are organizedperiodically;beautycontests are also staged,in whichwomenwithinthefirmscompetewitheach other forthe titleof beautyqueen; and bonuses and incentivesare rewarded withgiftchecks fromdepartmentstores.Such promotionof insidious of theextentofthe consumptionis a cruciallinkageto theunderstanding sexualizationoflabor.The productionof desireforconsumergoods forein theexportation groundsthewaysuch desirebecomestheundercurrent of brides.When multinational workhas maximizedits utilizationof the youngfemalebody,the body remainsanchoredin dreamsof modernity, as a transportable brideto FirstWorldsites.The makingit refurbishable preparationof the femalebody forfemaleworkin multinational operaworkas a mailtionsincipientlyalso preparesthe body fortransnational orderbride. Multinationalworkis precariouswork,to say theleast,as givenwork can easilybe takenback. Multinationalcorporationsclose shops at the slightestprovocationof labor unrestor at the promiseof cheaper labor and betterincentiveselsewhere.Multinationalism is characterizedby its Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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degreesofmobilityas itresetsboundaries,sellingitsoperationsto thehost nationthatoffersthe most benefitsforthe lowestcosts. This, in turn, resultsin anothershiftin the circuitsof labor and bodies: women from closed sitesare displaced,whilewomenfromnew sitesare integratedin the transnational grid.In the global economy,each sitein foreigncountries(each body of laborers)is condensedto workerstatus,to be hailed and dismissedin theexpanse ofthereservearmyof availablegloballabor sitesand bodies. Militarismprovidesanothermode of translating neocolonialism.The rise of theUnited Statesas a global powerin thetwentieth centuryescalated the need to expand and secure its interestsworldwide.Its military bases mushroomedin siteswhereits interestswere directlyand contingentlyat stake.These sitesacted as a magnetto a layerof entertainment establishments In thesesites,women servicingtheneedsoftheservicemen. withFilipino performsexual labor. "Hospitalitygirls" have an affinity womenwho workin multinational operations."Hospitalitygirls"workin the hub of othertransnational nodes in the Third World;in the Philippines,thesesitesare in theurban centersthatused to hosttheAmerican militarybases and in cities vigorouslyprojectedand exoticizedby the tourismcircuit.There used to be nine thousandwomen servicingthe Subic Naval Base in Olongapo and seven thousandmore in Clark Air Field. Most of thesewomenweremigrantsfromthedepressedregionsof the country.The militarybases servedas a magnetforattracting surplus bodies fromthe depressed areas. Performingtasks that provided the servicemen's"R&R" (restand recreation),thesewomenwerelabeled by sailors as "LBFM" (littlebrownfuckingmachines). The cyborgreappears as a sexual machinethatyieldsa highlyproblematicpositionin the confusionof bodyand machineboundaries.Wheremen'sleisureis translated to female work,the issue of pleasure and pain is not so much obscuredas clarifiedin thesexual economyat play.Women'ssexualbody formale leisureand femalework.Withthese parts are instrumentalized bases closed down and turnedinto investment and industrialzones, the a shift remains habitat for the transnational spatial productionof surplus sexual bodies. The "pleasure in the confusionof boundaries" in the of bodies in theserreterritorialization cyborgmythis but a transnational vice of capital'smovement. The experience of interracial,crossculturalrelationsforegrounds "hospitalitywomen" as precursorsto the mail-orderbridephenomenon thatbeginsin themid-1970sand eruptsin the 1980s. Withthelastof the Americanbases closed in 1992, some womencontinuetheirtradeas the and tourismdestinations. It formerbase sitesare convertedto investment is estimatedthatthereare still100,000 women engaged in sexual work. Implicatedin thisworkare children'sbodies, now activatedintothe cir56

Roland B. Tolentino

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cuits.Fiftythousandinterracialchildren,knownas Amerasians,are the livingreminderof thelegacyof theseclosed bases. Japan'sgrowingdominance in Philippineeconomics,as it has overtakenthe United Statesas theprimarydonorof foreignaid, creditorof foreignloans,and investorof multinational business,has broughtanotherbreed of children.As more Filipinas move into this Asian First World site (workingas "cultural a Japaneseman is regardedas an instance dancers/entertainers"), marrying of social mobility.The JapaneseEmbassy in the Philippinesreportsin 1991 thattherewere 20,000 Filipina-Japanese marriages.In such marriages,only10 percentare consideredto be successful,or to have endured beyond the period expected of such relationships.One consequence of theserelationships is an increasingly growingnumberofFilipino-Japanese childrencalledJapinos. The thirdmode of translating neocolonialismis throughtransnationalism, which circuitsthe bodies of women and men in international spaces. The travailsof modern developmentplace the Philippinesin a of crisisand progress.In thedysfunctional national juxtaposition recurring one of out ten is abroad.7 space, Filipinos seriouslyseekingemployment With800,000 collegegraduatesannually,thereis no place else to go but overseas: 55 percentof the 440,000 Filipinoswho join the international workforceannuallyare women. The lack of employmentopportunities withinthe Philippinesis theprimarycause forthe migrationof Filipinos overseas.There are over2 millionoverseascontractworkersin some 125 countries.Some 600,000 familieshave a familymemberworkingabroad; an estimated19 millionFilipinos are directlyand indirectlybenefiting frommigrantlabor.Migrantlabor earnssome $3 billionannuallyforthe Philippineeconomy,capable of sustaininga quarterof theentirepopulation.The worldwideannualfigure,however,jumpsto an estimated$6 billion (about the same amount as the Philippinenationalbudget) when remittances by nationalitiesof Filipinodescentare considered;$1 billion ofwhichcomes fromremittances by over2 millionFilipinosin theUnited States. labormigrationfromthePhilippineshas come in waves: Historically, thefirstas agriculture workersin theUnitedStatesbeginningin 1903; the second from1945 to the late 1960s when thousandsof professionalsin the medical fieldleftfor the United States and Canada; and the third wave underMarcos's martiallaw regime,whichwas more massivethan the firsttwo and whichcontinuesinto the present.The men were concentratedmostlyin theMiddle East, doingworkin the spendingspreeof the oil boom. Women were mostlyin the centers of establishedand emergingFirst World formations-chambermaidsin Europe; domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, and Singapore; entertainersin the Japan;nursesin the United States;and mail-orderbridesthroughout Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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FirstWorld.Womenleave thedomesticsphereof thenationalspace only to reenterthatsphereby performing home-relatedworkin international On home one labor in thedomesticspherebecomes level,unpaid spaces. labor in On international another level, earningmore for paid spaces. home-related workin international spaces thantheworktheyweretrained to do in the nationalspace, halfa millionwomenare leavingthe Philippines, legallyand illegally,everyyear to workprimarilyin international domesticprofessions.These womenutilizetheirbodies to supportfamilies in the Philippines,actingas sacrificiallambs distantfromloved ones forthe chance to alleviatethe family'seconomicwelfare.For mostFilipinas, to be an overseascontractworkeris to be in a triplebind: firstas a second as a woman in patriarchalsocieties,thirdas a woman foreigner, workingin professionsregardedas menialand even sociallyundesirable. In migratingto findworkabroad,Filipinashave supporteda numberof businesseshere and abroad, such as promotionand recruiting agencies, and banks. airlines, As it is forwomenin multinational corporations,the body becomes the requisiteforworkingin international space: womenoverseascontract workersare mostlysinglewomen(80 percent)and in theprimeage range of twenty-one to thirty years(67 percent).Most ofthesewomenare educated and skilled,yettheydo menialworkabroad forhighersalariesthan theywould receiveforthe professionaljobs theyare capable of in the Philippines.This workoutside the home presentsa dilemma,as Mary Ruby Palma-Beltranobserves:"On theone hand,we wantour womento growout of theirtraditionalfunctionsof childrearingand housekeeping and to realizeotherpotentialswhichare morehighlyvalued and compensated. On the otherhand, marketdemands overseasshow an increasing trendfordomesticjobs."8 It is preciselyin thesedomesticspheresthatFilipinasare allocatedto transnational space. Domesticworkis an invisiblespace thatis performed makesone at the "beck in theprivatesphere,yetthelive-inarrangement and call oftheemployer24 hoursa day."9 Ninety-eight percentofFilipino workersin Hong Kong are domestichelpers.In Singapore,out of the 40,000 foreignhouseholdworkersemployedin the country,almost 60 percentare Filipinas.Of the 50,000 Filipinosin Spain, about 90 percent of femaleworkersare domestichelpers,chambermaids,or waitresses. There are 100,000 Filipinosin Italy,mostof whomare Filipinasworking as domestichelpers;only35,000 havelegalstatus.The international space accords otherpossibilitiesforthe migrantworker;workingin Italy,for example, is consideredonly a transientstop towarda permanentresidence in the United States,Canada, or Australia.Upon residingin these privilegedcenters,theirbodies become magnetsattractingtheirfamily members'physicalmovementto these centersor theireconomic move58

Roland B. Tolentino

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ment in the nation space. Aftergettingtheirnew citizenship,theyare able to petitionforfamilymembersto come to the First World site as immigrants.Withinthe nation space, theyare also able to providethe financialimpetusfor theirfamilies'social mobility,providinganything and everything fromused appliancesand clothingto education,rent,and vehicles. The postcolonialgeobodymoveson: in specificlocations-as nurses in the United States and as entertainers in Japan-and in various First Worldsitesas mail-orderbrides.Nursingis traditionally positionedas a domesticand women's affair.Half of the totalnumberof nursesin the Philippinesare alreadypracticingtheirprofessionabroad,as 25,000 more are deployedannually.FiftythousandFilipinonursesin theUnitedStates remitsome $100 millionannuallyto the Philippines.The Alliance of HealthWorkers,a Philippine-based attribnongovernmental organization, utestheexodus to threestructural reasons:thegovernment's presentlabor exportpolicy,aggressiverecruitment strategiesbylocal and international agencies, and the Westernorientationof Philippinenursingeducation. All of thesefactorsmake thegraduatesmarketableto foreigncountries.10 The educationalsystemhoned duringtheAmericancolonialperiodcontinuesto produce graduatesmore attunedto meetingthe needs forwork abroad thanforconditionsin thelocal setting.Gendershiftsare tolerated in considerationof economic gains. In recentyears,male enrollmentin nursingprogramshas been on theriseas men accept theirown feminization for the promise of dollar earningsabroad. Income earned abroad themen's place in theprivateand public spheres eventuallyreconstitutes of thenationspace. Anothermovementof Filipina bodies is as entertainersin Japan. Japayukisanis the pejorativetermused to describeFilipinas and other Asian women entertainers workingin Japan. The termis derivedfrom or China-bound who servicedthe sexkarayuki-san, Japaneseprostitutes ual needs ofJapanesesoldierspriorto and duringthe Second WorldWar all over Asia." In the 1970s a huge numberof Japanesetouristsspent company-paidholidaysin Thailand,thePhilippines,Taiwan,and Koreawhich laterwere exposed as sex tours. In more recentyears,however, entertainerswere exported/ferreted to Japan to meet the sex market In demand. 1991, therewerealready45,899 Filipina(and Filipino)entertainersinJapan.By January1992, 65.28 percentof foreignentertainers in JapanwereFilipinas. Controlover women's bodies is located in the organizationallayers of businesses. To preventthe mobilityof women, theirpassports are confiscatedupon arrival.The body is depersonalized,delegitimized, and denationalizedof itspersonaland politicalorigins.As themostimportant transnational identification paper,thepassportbears themarkersof indiBodies, Letters,Catalogs

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To preventthe of mobility women,their passportsare confiscated upon arrival. The body is depersonalized, and delegitimized, denationalized of itspersonaland political origins.

vidual and nationalidentity.Withoutthe passport,the individualdoes the not existas a legitimate entityoutsidethenationspace. In confiscating in the in a move to fixate the is also criminalized the body body passport, properborderbetweenmale workand leisure.In this commerceof the body,a customerquota is enforced,and the body is finedif the quota is the promiseof income and savingsis precluded not met. Furthermore, to pay because she can onlyworklegallyforsix months,makingitdifficult her debts or send moneyback home on the basis of her salaryand her in multinational work,is body,likehercounterpart tips.The entertainer's perenniallycontractual,subjectto periodicreplacementsby otherbodies. workersare onlyallowedto workin Japanfor As Filipinaentertainment six-monthperiods,thebody is continuouslyrecycled. Despite the precariousconditionsthatcall into questiontheirown economic and culturalramifications, Filipinas stillpursue, for lack of betteroptions,the promiseof makingconcretethe culturalstandardsof middle-classliving.In thenationspace,thesestandardsare represented by and stuffed oversized betamax,TV, cassette-recorders, toys,gold jewelry, so on. The body is resignified by beingcommodifiedin an exchangefor the signs of materialaffluence.This is also the logic behindmail-order bridesand, in a more generalschema,the reasonwomenand men allow themselvesto be circuitedin transnational space in thefirstplace. As the the transition fromeconomicsubsistenceto nationspace has yetto yield materialaffluence,the promiseis soughtelsewhere.In turn,thetransnational space has hegemonizedthe desire for consumergoods, allowing forthebombardmentand explosionof consumeristsignsto penetratethe spaces. The motivationforwithbody in the nationaland international standingpain and anguishrelieson the promiseof a deliverancevia the signs). acquisitionofthesegoods or markersof affluence(or commodified in the available The deliveranceis made moresignificant bymaking signs the Filipino's place of originwithinthe nationalspace. In transposing thesemarkersback to the nationalspace, a leverageforthe community's acceptance of the family'seconomic ascent is created. The body that allows itselfto be mobile, to be exchanged,to be commodified,to be markedbecomes the preconditionforthe promiseof social mobilityin transnational space. The discourse of mail-orderbrides is premised along this similar promise of deliverance.Both bride and groom bind themselvesinto a contractofmarriagewithoutphysically seeingeach other.The FirstWorld most will Third World bride and likelymeetforthefirsttimea few groom The their before phenomenonhas been on the rise. In marriage. days 1970, only50 womenwereissued K-1 (fiance)visas in theUnitedStates; in 1983, however,3,000 visas wereissued forAsian women.By 1990, the and NaturalizationService Dallas regionalofficeof theU.S. Immigration 60

Roland B. Tolentino

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alone received some 15,000 "fiance petitions." In 1985, 124,093 people were granted immediate visas through marriage. It is estimated that 50 to as much as 70 percent of mail-order brides are Filipinas. In 1982, reports in Germany stated that 80 percent of the 4,000 unregistered Filipino residents were mail-order brides. In the same year in Australia, 8,000 Filipino-Australian marriages were arranged. There are now some 50,000 Filipina mail-order brides in the United States. Despite the cases of abuse, death, and forced prostitution, applications for international marriage continue for the promise of a betterlife. The body moves along this promise. As the letter is premised on a promise to be properlydelivered-in the proper time to the proper person in the proper place-the letterthen prefiguresthe body's movement.

Lettersand Obsolescent Technology The letteralwaysarrivesat its destination. -Jacques Lacan The historyof the postal serviceis ... thehistoryof the nationitself. -James A. Farley,past postmastergeneral Letters mark exchanges and the fulfillmentof the promise. The letterconquers distance and, at the same time, maintains it. The letter (mis)introduces, (mis)informs, (in)formalizes, (un)plans, accepts, and rejects; the letterhails and interpellates.But most of all, the letterpromises. As letters promise the delivery of mail-order brides and make mail-order brides comprise the promise (to be "promising"), they become crucial in the fulfillmentof the promise. Through the letter,the promise is never compromised. Gary B.'s letterto his agent attests to the mail-order bride narrative: Dear Friends, JustthoughtI would drop thisletterin the mail. I wantedto let you know thatthroughyourpen pal club, I was able to meetand marrymybeautiful wife,Marietta.Enclosed you will finda photo of mywifeand two adorable children.We startedwritingin 1986, metin Manila in 1988 and got married in 1989. We will be celebratingour anniversarythisJanuary.Our storyis trulya romanticone. Sincerely, [Gary'sfullname]12 The characters, setting,and plot are encapsulated in the testimonialattestBodies, Letters,Catalogs

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as ingto thedeliveranceand realizationofthepromise.Gary'stestimonial union of anothersatisfiedcustomerevokesbotha capitalistorientation(a desire and capital realized) and a patriarchal/racialized imperativeof speakingforand on behalfof theThirdWorldwoman (representedagain in thewritingof the otherand in the photograph).The letterbecomes a in particularand for forthemail-orderbridenarrative condensedsignifier shoppingin general. imbuedwiththe Shoppinghas also been psychicallyand historically desire. an that of represents Capitalistcultureis promise acquiring object desire and channeled consumerist drivenby throughthe purchaseof an objectthatmaterializesdesire.The mail-orderbrideis positionedin shopping throughthe mail-ordersystem:purchasingsomethingthe shopper his desire. Though the has not seen in the hope thatthis object fulfills the driveis all-powerful the has not object, physicallyinspected shopper enoughto convincehimto instigatethepurchase. The confluenceof the postal and shopping systemshas worked Postal historyhas generatedsome circuitsto towardgreaterefficiency. networkthisconfluence.The struggleto establisha postal systemwithin within colonialAmericawas characterizedby the abilityto territorialize and betweencoloniesthroughtheabilityto serviceand linktheseareas.It as postmastergeneral was onlyupon BenjaminFranklin'sco-appointment in 1753 thatthepostal systembecame a viableenterprise.In utilizingthe systemto furtherthe interestof his publication,Franklinconsequently of newsand publicopinion theproductionand dissemination refurbished rate. the mail at a reasonable all to by admitting newspapers also individualism and indithe privileges Ideologically, postalsystem vidualrights.The sanctityof themail is a reveredideologythatinterjects notions of individualismand humanism,public trustand liberalism, the postal democracyand capitalism.Capitalistimperativestransformed a that became a into bureaucracy. eventually system public enterprise With 740,000 workers,the post officewas the thirdlargestemployerin theUnitedStatesin 1970, onlytoppedbyAT&T and GeneralMotors.Its incomeof $6 billionhas made it one ofthebiggestbusinesses,largerthan such industrialgiantsas Texaco and IBM. In 1970, the PostalReorganizationAct formalizedthebureaucracyintoa government corporation. of As an enterprisethatrode on the growingsuccess and efficiency the postal system,mail orderingwas also successfullytransformedby Sears Roebuck into an equally viable enterprise.Early catalogs already as and affordable bankingon such mythology delivery, harpedon efficient the Pony Express. The otherfactorthatmade mail orderingsuccessful was thatit allowedfora varietyof choices.Testimonialsfromcustomers withthe service,the qualityof the goods, and attestto theirsatisfaction the availabilityof a range of choices thatturnedskepticsinto patrons. 62

Roland B. Tolentino

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The rightto choose embodiedtheworkings of liberaldemocracywhilethe efficient supplyand deliveryofthe goods embodiedtheworkingsof capitalisttransformation duringthelate 1800s, theera of imperialism. The 1897 Sears and Roebuck Catalog was alreadyadvertising products fromall overthe world(e.g., Javacoffee,India tea,Jamaicanginger, "watchesmade by poor peasantsin Switzerland,"beautyproductsfrom colonizedcountries).U.S. supremacyas a junctureforglobalproductsin Sears Roebuck's words,"the cheapest supplyhouse on earth"-is a recurringthemein the catalog. It is also symptomaticof the period of transformation fromcolonialismto imperialism:sellingthecolonyand its products,colonialismand its ethosto the imperialcountriesand its citiThe coverpage featuring the agriculturalicon Ceres (the zens/shoppers. corn and earthgoddess) celebratesagriculturalabundance and desires for markersof middle-classlife,foregroundingnew technologiesand privatizedmodes of experiencingindustrialization.The catalogs were embarkingon a privatecolonialprojectthatcirculatedthecolonies'products to thehomes and farmsof the United States. Eventually,the United Stateswould also embarkon its colonialproject withthePhilippinesas itsfirstexperimentin colonybuilding.One of the initialcommunicationinstitutions establishedupon conquestwas the Dean C. Worcester,Secretaryof theInteriorof thePhilippostal system. pine Islands (1901-1913) and Franklin'scounterpartas quintessential enlightenedcolonizer,tookpains to reporton theinnovationsundertaken in the Philippine postal system:the expansion of postal routes, pay increasesto lettercarriers,the establishment of innovativedeliveryservices. Interestingly, losses of articleswere conscientiouslyinvestigated: and "Now, even the most trivialcomplaintis painstakingly investigated, onlyin rarecases is therefailureto recoverthevalue oflostor stolenarticles fromthepostalemployee."'13 As such,a new ethosof individualism as evokedin thesanctityoftheletterwas introducedwiththeconquestofthe Philippines,seekingto integratethe conqueredland and people into the ideologyand practicesof democracyand capitalism. The nationalfeelingof hysteriaover the Philippineconquest earlier on in itsimperialrisewas onlytopped bythetraumaof defeatin theVietnam War. By the 1970s, the loss in the VietnamWar markedthe United States' own decline in global hegemony.The postal system'sabilityto deliverwas also on a decline. The systemhad not made innovationsin one billion decipheringthewordsthatinstructeddelivery.Approximately of domestic mail were never deliveredbecause of incorrector pieces unreadableaddresses.The futureof mail orderingwas also implicated. numberof (Sears's profitsdeclined,resultingin closuresof a significant retailoutletsin the early1990s.) The promiseof the letterarrivingat its destinationwas materializingelsewhere.The postmodernwas already Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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showingsignsof readinessto accommodatethepromise,withsatisfaction of desire fulfilledinstantaneously.The postal and mail-ordersystems could notcatchup withpostmodernism's weakeningofhistoryand waning of affect.New technologies,withinnovationsin interactivity, fulfilled the of desire. promiseof instantaneoussatisfaction oftheproduct. Televisionshoppingprovidesfora greatervisualization are of made fixtures to explain product innovations. Figures authority Phone testimonialsprovideaudible expressionsof satisfaction and trust not justbased on thecustomer'sexperiencewitha purchasedproductbut, more significantly, based on the experienceof televisionshopping.Television becomes more than just a departmentstore's show window.It marksa domesticcyclethateventuallyreturnsto thedomesticspace: one ordersan itemfromthe domesticspace to utilizethe purchaseditemin the confinesof thatspace. Withtechnology'salleviationof physicalwork in the domesticsphere,it has also generatednew work.Televisionshopthus pingprovidesfornew technologicalproductsthatoperatedifferently, requiringnew work. Televisionshoppingalso has limitsin itsscope of itemsto sell. Sexual items that fulfillsexual desires are located somewhereelse. Bodies are called upon in thisfoldto be (dis)playedand (dis)placed elsewhere.Love a televisiondatingshow,allowsforthe condensationof body Connection, spaces withintheTV frame.The showdisplaystheideologicalfeaturesof liberalismand capitalism.Democraticparticipationis practicedthrough audience participationlockingin theirchoice of date forthe contestant. The finaldecision,however,is made by theplayer.The playeris allowed to middle-classviewson heterosexual relationto interject his/her workinga is made the full It is at the when decision that body of only point ships. the choice date is called onto the stage setting.Formerlydisplaced,the exchange,forfinalintrospecbodyis shownin fullviewfora face-to-face tionand inspection:placed in thesphereofthehiddenand theforbidden, thepostmodernbodyis displacedto thepermissible,accessed and accessorizedbytheplayer. bodies. and permitting Phone datingis also an operationof forbidding Premisedon a contractto physicallyengage withanotherbody one has not seen (the "blind" date) and has onlyheard of,phone datingcalls the body into the foldto bear lightand to be judged. The simpleelectronic device has allowedthe orderingof bodies to some properplace: an intiis alreadycoded wherethegenericbodyis allowedonly matesignification whenan variationson a theme.In otherwords,thebody is prefabricated orderis made. The phoned-inproductis the body itself,deliveredto a properplace of physicalcontact. Televisionas public communicationalso integratesthe categoriesof

Roland B. Tolentino

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ThattheThird permissibleand forbiddeninto what gets includedand excluded in this The of sexual desire is thus fulfillment overt derived elsewhere, sphere. Worldwoman is Phone and Internetsex allowtheinitialteringsex practicessignificantly. ationand consummationofwordsand bodies entangled.Words-whether alignedwith printed,spoken,or heard-prefigurethe body.The body is inscribedin words,pleasureis implicatedthroughwords.Sex is consummatedthrough the previous wordsthatperformthebodythatperformsthewords.Not seen,thebody is entangledin words thatrecountnot a historicalbody but a nostalgic technologyofthe body imbued in electronicdesire and pleasure. The cessationof words marksthereappearanceof thehistoricalbody.Electronicmail (e-mail)has postalsystem frombeingphysshiftedwordfunctionwherethepromiseis transformed servesto position generated. icallydeliveredto electronically These new innovationsof technologycall for greaterinteractivity. herwiththe allowsthe body to move throughvariousspheres,shopping Interactivity foranotherbody thatrepresentsdesireand pleasure.The bodies turnto primitive, placing is onlytoo superhighway images;sex becomessimulated.The information in with choices no one has to the room living willing presentshopping herintherealm ever imaginedbefore.On the otherhand, surveillanceprefiguresin all thesetechnologiesof power:the courierin the earliestyearsof thepostal of "second systemalso functionedas surveillance,to reportdesertingsoldiersand runawayslaves; the sanctityof the letter,as in all rights,is not absolute nature,"which (duringtimesof war,lettersmaybe opened); new technologiesoftenget withinthecircuits purposes.Activated producedin thefirst place formilitary separatesher of desire,thesetechnologiesare also fragmenting, simulatingthebody. brideremains"outsidein" thisgrid.14Letters fromher However,themail-order theexchange.The ThirdWorldwomanas comand catalogsstillprefigure own historical modityis made to embody this nostalgiafor previous technology.As MichaelTaussigwrites,"Obsolescenceis wherethefuturemeetsthepastin and cultural the dyingbody of the commodity."15 That the Third World woman is ofthepostalsystemservesto position alignedwiththeprevioustechnology positionality. in herwiththeprimitive, placingher therealmof "second nature,"which She funcseparatesher fromher own historicaland culturalpositionality. tionsin relationto modernity's fascination withobsolescencein thewayshe is made to representits ethos of a copy of the FirstWorld'spast. This meansthat,as a copy,theThirdWorldwomanis made to embodythenovformsof FirstWorldnostalgiaforits eltyof imaginingand concretizing past: "The ThirdWorldand itsobjectsare in a globalperspectivegenerally seen as permanently 'recentlyoutdated,'a reservoirof FirstWorldhandmemoriesofitsearlierconsumeritems."'16 me-downsand sleepy-eyed

Bodies,Letters, Catalogs

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Catalogs, Nostalgia, and Multiculturalism Mar 205 Virginia 5'3; 98; Toycompany (31) Philippines/ (former employee seamstress; highschoolgrad)."Seek a penpal30 to 35 of age and havea stablejob, notthatmuchuglyand notthatmuchhandsome,and fairin everything." -ad byFilipinaina mail-order bridecatalog I appreciatetheirkindness whentheywritelongletters, tellingme about hisjob,hisfamily andtheAmerican himself, wayoflife. -testimonybya Filipinaapplicant The mail-orderbridefunctionsas a commodityembodyingthe recently outdatedFirstWorldnarrativesof thenuclearfamilyand coloniality.On the one hand,in the exchangeof marriageproposalsand bodies through the previoustechnologyof the postal system,the Third Worldwoman assumes the domestic and sexual tasks vacated by emancipatedwhite women. On the otherhand, theThird Worldwomanis rescuedfromthe The nuclear pangs ofhernativeland oppressors-nativemen and poverty. familyand colonialistfantasiesare entwinedin the operationof the catalogs. While allowingthemale clienteleto make a varietyof choices,from mode. the potentialbride'spointof view the catalogsworkin a different For the men, catalogs provide a listingof available mail-orderbrides, itemizeddescriptionsof these women,agency services,and procedures forestablishingcorrespondenceand arrangingmarriage.For thewomen, these through however,catalogs package women's bodies, representing certainconventions.Throughthewomen'sphotographs,theirbodies are thefaceis privilegedabove imbibedwithcasualnessratherthanformality; otherbodilyparts.The smileis the rhetoricalgesture.It is veryrareto findwhole body shots of women. Women's bodies are nevercomplete, a lack as inherentin theirdesireto enterthe public sphere constructing allowedin the catalogpages. and raciallyactivatedbyphotos. Familynostalgiahas been historically When male Chinese and Japaneseimmigrantswere finallyallowed to bringfamilymembersto the United States,picturesconnectedprospectivecouples formarriage.Fearingthe demiseof familyand race,picture and brideswereimportedto populate,therebyresignifying national/ethnic familialpresenceagainstAmericanracism'soperationsof marginalization and absence.In MarilynIvy'sanalysisofmailedflyersofmissingchildren, she forgesa connectionbetweenthe missingchild and the implicated "Resident"to whomtheloss is addressed."7Notoriously,thefrontof the flyerswould containthe face of the missingchild whilethe back would containcoupons fordomesticservices(pizza discounts,carpetcleaning, 66

Roland B. Tolentino

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electricalservices,etc.). Ivy thenreconnectsthe loss to a generalpanic over the loss of the inner child, which accounts for the dysfunctional behaviorof individualsin today'ssociety.The panic overthechild'sloss is on a self-reflexive mechanismbased on individualism or,morespecifically, on three individualself-worth. Ivy'sanalysisof theADVO ads restspartly feelings:guilt,fear,and attendantfascination.This mode of advertising foregroundssome connectionwiththe positioningof women'sbodies in mail-orderbridecatalogs. The brieftextsaccompanyingthe photos provideforthe coding of of identitiesof thewomenaccordingto culturalcategoriesand structures taste.Each woman'sphotois introducedin thisorder:hernumericalcode, her firstname only,her age, and her nationof origin.What thenfollow are her physical,professional,and personal background,includingher height,weight,birthdate,profession,and interests.In CherryBlossoms,a on bridecorrespondencecatalog,hermaritalstatus,includinginformation The lastitemin thedescripchildren(sex,number,age), is also mentioned. tionis her conceptof a worthyman/penpal/husband,usuallyarticulated along thelinesof acceptablerace, religion,age bracket,and othergauges she herselfhas decided. For the user, the descriptionprovides ample on women's bodies and lives to pass judgment.The funcinformation of theideal First tionalThird Worldwoman'sbody is made symptomatic narrative. Worldmale nuclear-family This bringsintoperspectivethedesireto situatewomenin some locationsof Americanspace and time,whenwomenwereidealizedschoolgirls and perfecthousewives(a la TheStepford Wives)."The familyromanceis a way of 'inventing history' that allows . . . not only to change but to

improve upon thereceivedand sociallysanctionedversionsof... beginthenuclearfamilyfantasy,nostalgiabecomes the nings."'8In maintaining forrecuperatingwhiteAmericanwomen'sbodies in libidinalinvestment the (post)feminist age, a contrastbetweenan age of Victorianinnocence and the ERA (Equal RightsAmendment)movementof angrywomen shoutingand marchingon the streets.The layoutof spaces-photos and briefdescriptions-recallsto theuser a body of relatedtexts:highschool or collegeannualsand slambooks.Casual shots,groupphotos,and childhood and teenpicturesin yearbooksarticulatethe graduatinghighschool student'spresence. Devoted an entirepage, the graduateis allowed to or facultymemmemorializepeople-from parents,friends,sweethearts, bers to quotes fromNietzsche,WaltWhitman,Bob Dylan,and otherculturalicons.And by association,she memorializesherselfand herhistorical moment(which encompasses fashion,hairstyle,aspiration,gaze, etc.). The page marksoffan age of innocence,an idealizedmomentof juvenile triumphin movingfurthertowardsthe constructionof one's adult individuality.Viewed froma more recentperiod, the high school moment Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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whencomparedto thebusinessofadulthood, becomesa laid-backportrait and so on. The income generation,marriageand family,relationships, momentbecomes femininized, a desireto returnis alwayspresent(thus slam or dedicationbooksmemorializea theperiodicreunions).Similarly, a into definitions ideal of historical moment and categoriesof personal crushesand love,colorsand rolemodels,hobbiesand favoritesongs.The user's photo and interactive dedicationto the ownerfurther the desireto encapsulatethemoment. The photosalso recallwomen'sclothingcatalogsand magazinecovers. The models on the coversof the Victoria'sSecretwomen'slingerieand casual-wearcatalog are constructedwitha directgaze intendedforthe forthemodel.Attention is calledto usersyetimplicatedwithvulnerability the models' breaststhroughan emphasis on cleavage, erection,subtle covering,and display.Twice gazingto be gazed at, boththemodel'seyes and breastspeer onlyto be seduced in thepowerplaywiththeheterosexual and homosexualusers: the seductressis consequentlyseduced. With coordinateddisheveledhair,flimsysilkchemise,and varyingdegreesof hand and body gesturesof frailtyand contortions,the model reenacts both infantileand rape fantasies,both of which entaildominance and thathas powerplay.These relationaltextsemphasizean ideal femininity its domesticrootsin theideal familyof theAmerican1950s. The postwar returnof women to the domestic sphere, suburbanization,increased consumer spending,mass productionand consumptionof household appliances,and the Cold Warall relateimagesofimaginedfamilyideality thatneverexisted. As the mail-orderbride's discursivebody is technologizedin the catalogs (and also on video), her body becomes inscribedin a robotic function.On the one hand, the cottagetechnologyused to produce the catalog (e.g., themimeographed,dated qualityof productionand layout, photos,etc.) remainsunderdevelopedand, to a mostlyblack-and-white it intentional: thewomenand theirnationalorigins represents largeextent, as inferior to theuser'sown. On theotherhand,thediscourseofbodies is fortheFirstWorldhome,in whichtechnology is required retechnologized of The fortheefficient domestic bride becomes the sphere. management a robotictechnologythatoperationalizesthe functionsof appliances.In ofthedomesticsphere,thebride'sbodyis also thetechnology maintaining into a posttechnologized.The slave of the colonial era is transformed Fordistrobot. Colonialism presents another nostalgia in various ways. On the national level, the imperialconquest of the nativerace created a caste systemwithinthenationspace. Withwealthand whitenessas idealnorms, whileAmerasians, mestizosand mestizashave been historically privileged, especiallythosefatheredby black soldiers,and Japinoshave been looked 68

Roland B. Tolentino

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downupon. Chineseethnicities and indigenesare lookedupon withvarylevels of national chauvinism. Women'sbodies encapsulatethe desire ing forconquest and rescue.Withinthe sphereof popular culture,even science fictionfilms-such as the Alien or the Terminator series-present as an issue of and of both rescue the nation. Destined mothering conquest to rescuehumankind,masculinizedwomenstaketheirwombsand livesto give birthto the messiahor to destroythe singularforceof evil. Consequently,women'spositioningin the Armageddonbecomes a catalystto restoretheprecolonizedstatusquo. The fantasyof conquestis also fedby sex tours:sitesbecome "every singleman's paradise,"wherethemain activityis "chasingand conquering the fairersex." In a sex tour catalog for SoutheastAsia, the erect breastsof Thai womenare emphasizedin thecoloredcollagecover.Their breasts serve as surrogatepenises to castrated(demasculinized) First World men, anxiously sufferingfroma lack of what they perceive is generatedby the liberationfrontsof First World women. These First World men aim to regain the pleasure of authorityof the lost phallus througha conquestof ThirdWorldwomencategorizedeitheras en masse lustful("thousandsupon thousands")or as a virginalrarity("yourvirgin bride"). Torn between"hookersand virgins,"the catalog aims to make clearthedistinctionbetweenthetwo,and thusto "alwayshave theupper hand in dealingswithAsian women."The clarityof thisadvantagethen createsthepositionto separatethegrainfromthechaff,therebychoosing theworthyforredemptionin theFirstWorld. Gay tours,especiallyto Third Worldcountries,are implicatedalong these circuits.Extendingthe scene of the cruise to these Third World sites,thetoursalso hingeon pleasureas inscribedon the bodies of Third World peoples and the conditionsin which these peoples are located. These toursyielda highlyproblematiccorrelationbetweenpleasureand povertyon the one side, and the distinctionand similaritybetween exploitationand benevolenceon the otherside. On a relatedscale, men's catalogs (especiallythose intendedfor a gay clientele)reconstructthe enclavesofhomoeroticcolonialistfantasy. models Utilizinghypermasculine to suggeststrength, the and homosexual Internabulk, phallus, pleasure, men's activewearcatalogs,featurethematic tionalMale and Undergear, photofashionspreads(Arabiannights,lifeguards, gyms,WorldCup, etc.) as enclavesof homosocialfantasythatreinscribepowerthroughnostalgic deathand rescue,narcissismand conquestand (cultural)cross-dressing, and so on. The models' bodies implicitly conglobalunity, performance, structan absent Other as the bodies of Third Worldmen become the thesehomosocialfantasyenclaves. juncturesto reconstruct Tourismalso worksin a similarly familiarmode: conquestthatis trigin gered glossypictureswithintravelmagazinesand thatis to materialize Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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in actual visitsto and photos takenof the touristsites.As geographyis imbuedwiththenotionof passivity, thenis generatedthroughthe activity bodies of people. The travelcatalogs hinge on these bodies as generic of exoticism,whethertheseare singularmodels posed in some signifiers naturaltouristattractionor massivenumbersof people sweatingthrough a religiousprocession. The native bodies are exoticized,denied their In the sexual economy,the body is eroticizedbut neverparticularities. thelessalso denied its specificity to engenderanythingbut the desireto be conquered.In thissense, the body is made genericand anonymous, collapsed of its specificidentitiesin orderto signifythe collectiveexotic. As such, one body is made substitutable foranotherin the fulfillment of the desireto conquerand to know.Women'sbodies,however,are doubly in providingthedistresssignalfromwhichconquestand rescue functional In a nationalallegoricalreading, become modes of racializedimperatives. women'sbodies providethealarminggauge thatpreconditions the alleviationof themarginal(ized)race in general.The feminizednationalspace of foreigncapital,loans,aid, and investawaitsrescuewiththepenetration as to ment theobjectivepath modernization thealleviand, consequently, ation of poverty.This resonates with opportunitiesfor transnational forbothforeigninvestorsand theirlocal compradorswhereby exploitation resourcesand relationsof production,especiallylabor,are feminized. The second nostalgiais also one of fascinationwith Third World women: the fantasyof rescuingthe women fromtheirown kind.In the catalogs,this point is emphasizedin the women's own comparisonsof men fromtheirown countrieswiththe idealized image of the American male. The women in the photos all peer at the male user. In theirbest smilesand poses, the womenprojectthemselvesto drawthe user's gaze. The user,confronted byphotosofhundredsofwomen,becomesawareof theircollectivepresence,and perhaps theircollectiveconditions.In an effort to at leastsave one amongthehundreds,theuseractivatesa process of pen-palcorrespondences withmanyuntilthemostworthyofhisworth is chosen formarriageand rescuedto theFirstWorld. Nostalgia is spokenthroughthe languageof philanthropy. Catalogs reconstructthe postcolonial geobody by positinga syntacticmode in the Third Worldwoman. The resultof thisis genderand representing racial stereotypingsas surveillancemechanisms of the Third World woman'sbody.The 1897 Sears and Roebuck Catalog is imbuedwiththe worldview:"It is safeto say thatwe are doingmoreforthe philanthropic farmerand the laborerthan all the politicaldemagoguesin the country. The economyof anyman's liferevolvesitselfintoa judiciousexpenditure ofwhatmoneyhe has, whethertheamountis largeor small.[sic]" Cherry Blossomsequally boasts of its own successfulcommitment:"Whether lookingfora woman around the worldor in yourown backyard,we are committedto yoursuccess. That is whathas made us successful." 70

Roland B. Tolentino

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Testimonialsfromcustomersperpetuatethisimperative.The philanthropic,as reinforcedby the users, demarcatesthe bodies of the worthy are attachedto this and unworthy. FirstWorldbenevolenceand patriotism mode. Not surprisingly, the newestwave of mail-orderbride applicants come fromEasternEurope, fromwhichnew rescuenarrativesare generated to ensurethatif democracyremainsslow to developin thesenation of bodies to FirstWorldsitespromisesto make spaces, the transposition democracyperform. of Gender and racial stereotypings become the directramifications SunshineInternational'scoverletterto prospectiveclients philanthropy. reads: "Asian women are renownedfortheirbeauty,femininity, traditionalvalues and lovingdispositions.They are sincere,faithful, devoted and believe in a lastingmarriageand a happy home." The mail-order bride business, after all, hinges on this passive characterizationof women, the very antithesisof the supposedly liberated First World woman. In all these catalogs,thereis also a disdain forwhitespaces. Pages condense as manyimages and lifestoriesas possible. The dominanceof theseeminglyunlimitedvarietyand availability picturesand textssignifies of choices. This pressuresthe user to come up witha choice, thereby the choice is made providinga praxisto his individualism.More directly, to emanatewithinthe selectionsof the page as thereis nothingoutside the page. Desire is hingedwithinthe page, onlyto be unhingedfromits referentwhen the choice is made. In addition,if whitespaces are to be read racially,thentheabominationis deemedto be positivizing withinthe constructionof the individual/Self, easing nodes of tensionby creating identification and gratification betweenuser (white)and thetext(markers of middle-classaspiration),betweendesireand pleasure. In the mail-orderbride catalogs,the photos implicatethe user. The male clientis feminizedas he shiftsthroughthepages of thecatalogs.As he shops,he allowshimselfto be preoccupiedwitha feminineactivity. In a studyon multicultural mostof themen who engagein this relationships, are "attemptingto avoid repeatingmistakesthat underminedprevious The few youngermen who engage in brokeragerelationmarriages."19 ships "confessfeelingill at ease in encounterswithWesternwomen. ... most blame the women's liberationmovementfor theirplight."20The whitewomen'smovementshave createda backlashforwhichpatriarchy is in issue its of World women. Third taking justifying conquest The catalogsfunctionas a self-helpkit.From a feminizedposition, the men reassumetheirmasculinity.The bookletHow to Meet Exciting Ladies fromAll over the Worldprovides a step-by-stepguide to correspon-

dence withwomenformarriage,withchaptersdevotedto topics such as "choosing your correspondents," "makingsure yourlettergets to her," "makingyourletterstandout," "sendinggiftsand money,"and "whatif Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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The catalogs implya crisisof inthe masculinity First Worldwhich can be regained intheconquest and rescueofa ThirdWorld woman inorder to reconstruct the idealdomestic sphereofthe First World.

you changeyourmindabouther?"21The bookletincludesan appendixon such items as prenuptialagreements,immigration, sample letters,and The booklet and the are the emasculatedman's foreignphrases. catalog to his which in his own colohas been lost guides redeeming self-worth, nizationwithinthepostmodern. The nostalgiais triggered desireof whitemen. The bytheunfulfilled of in a crisis the First Worldwhich can be imply catalogs masculinity in of a the and rescue Third World womanin orderto conquest regained reconstruct theideal domesticsphereoftheFirstWorld.The crisiscomes fromthe absence of the stable white female figurein the home, the domainof theprivate,thespiritual,thepure. The crisisseeksto preserve the ideals of purityin the postmodern,therebyconservingthe loss experiencedin the crisisitself.This means thatmasculinity seeksto conserve a past,present,and futurethatalign its own destabilization byenvisioning and spirituality on theone hand,and men,work,and women,domesticity, on the other. Masculinity'sdomain overthe public can only materiality in the realmof the private.Race is be stakedby maintainingfemininity positionedas a surrogateideal, a concessionof in-betweens.On the one hand, theFirstWorldwomenare demonized,pittedagainstThirdWorld women; on the otherhand, this positionsthe Third World woman as and indimerelyaccessoryand concessionary.The family,masculinity, vidual self-worth hingeon thispositioningof theThirdWorldwoman. Catalogslistand packagebodies.Like dossiers,theseare technologies of surveillance.They positionwomen withinthe confinesof racial and sexual criteriathat act as modes of identificationand differentiation In thepsychic and theapplicant'sidentity. betweentheuser'ssubjectivity driveoftheuser,nostalgiaplaces thebodies ofwomenwithinorganicfantasynarrativesof familyand colonialglories.Like the mail-orderbride's moveon in otherrecentcontextsand presenthistories body,thenarratives thatstillimplicatethecircuitsof themail-orderbridediscourse. of thepositionThe special issue of Time(fall 1993) is symptomatic in of color United States.22 The coveris a comof race and women the ing of fourteen of a woman based on modelsof image photos puter-generated Labeled as the"imageof our new Eve" and as a "symdiverseethnicities. face of America,"the woman's face reinbol of the future,multiethnic scribesrepresentative democracy(she is: 15 percentAnglo-Saxon,17.5 percentMiddle Eastern,17 percentAfrican,7.5 percentAsian, 35 percent SouthernEuropean, and 7.5 percentHispanic). As she does not of liberalism. exist,she also heraldsthefictionality In Time'sproject,the desireis towardan incorporablemulticulturalism under the hegemonicgridthatsynthesizesratherthandifferentiates cultures.The technologyofmorphingachievedthis,instilling quantitative characteristics to multiethnic It, however,has produceda representation. Roland B. Tolentino

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face thatis merelyreflective of the presentstateof races and ethnicities, creatureor suturedin the body of woman. The projectis Frankenstein's Frankenstein'sbride: a perpetuationof the constructedselfof multiculturalism, alwaystornbetweennotionsof disciplineand benevolence.23 Time framesthe issue between the hystericsof immigrationand the euphoriaof globalism.The firstarticleis based on the resultsof a Time poll of people's perceptionsof immigration:Should the United States limitimmigration? Towardwhichgroups keep itsdoors open to or strictly of recentimmigrants do people feelmost favorablyand least favorably? What stereotypicalperceptionsof immigrantsdo people have (i.e., do theyadd to the crime problem,are theybasicallygood/honestpeople, etc.)? The lastarticleheraldsthe ("final") arrivalof theglobalvillageand into "transnational how everyoneis beingtransformed subjects." are as Ethnic peoples positioned articulatorsof this discourse (Dr. The creatorofthe Timeimageis an Asian.MichaelJackson's Frankenstein). the video,Blackor White,hingeson thismulticultural utopiaas mimicking as voice of whiteness. The choices are a black privileged designated simply man singingthe whiteman's tune (the ethnicmouthingwhiteness)or "United Colors of Benetton"politicking(whiteengulfingall otherraces/ ethnicities). Reversalsalso recurthatset back the agenda of empoweringmarginalized groups. In the 29 November 1994 episode of Frasier,the father admonisheshis son forspendingtoo much on his wife'splasticsurgery: "For an extra$5,000 more,you can geta wholenew wifefromthePhilipand pines." The highlyreceivedand praised drag filmon cross-dressing performance, The AdventuresofPriscilla, Queen of theDesert (1994), pre-

sentsa recentportrayalofa Filipinamail-orderbridein Australia.Cynthia (Julia Cortez) is depicted as the connivingsex workerwho trickedan elderlyAustralianman into marriage,providingher with a means to immigrateto thegroom'scountry.She is made to serveas thecatalystfor the developmentof affectionbetweenherhusband and the elderlytransgenderedcharacterwho oftenrefersto himselfas "a true gentleman." She abandons himforhavinga small "ding-a-ling"and forbeingtoo old for her passions. Not contentwith being depicted as scheming,loudthefantastic mouthed,alcoholic,and neurotic,Cynthiais made to perform act of popping ping-pongballs fromher vagina. This encorerecallsher supposed Philippineprofession;in doing so, she is linkedto a generic exotic/erotic bodilyand nationalentitythatprovokestheliminalspace of the whiteman's fantasyand loss. Everything negativelyimaginedof the in in themail-orderbride of the Australia is embodied concept "Filipina" character.Cynthiais reducedto a geobody,a body made allegoricalfora sexualized and gendered,nationalizedand racialized body of people. Togetherwiththe provincialwoman,Cynthiabecomes one of two demoBodies, Letters,Catalogs

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In reconstituting nized and alien(ated)femalefiguresin thisroad narrative. thesestereotypes, thehistorically oppressedfigureoftheFilipinais doubly disempowered:not only is she demonized,but she is furtheralienated fromher realsituation,whichis moreadvantageousfortheman thanit is forher.As representedbyWesterncinema,thefigureof theThirdWorld femalesubjectacts as a hingethatslowsdownthepoliticalagenda of new social movementsin the West; while queer issues were being foreIn positgrounded,theThirdWorldwoman'sissuewas beingsidetracked. in woman the role of the Third World unenviable oppressorin film ing in discourse,the filmalso presents narrativeand of Westerninterlocutor the Westernbind. In otherwords,the lack of concernformulticultural issues remainsprevalenteven as thefilmand textpurportto do otherwise in selectingand privileginga marginalgroup. In the limitedaccess for visibility, marginalgroups are made to compete againsteach other.In the hailingof a representative marginalgroup,othergroups are further obscured;morebodies are concealed. As transnationalism providesmore kineticism to bodies alreadyin motion,themaneuverof makingthemailorder bride networkmore overtin popular cultureinevitablyproduces in theconcealmentof thelifestoriesofthewomen. further sedimentation The secretsremain,onlyto be rippedopen in theirdeaths,as in a recent gunningdown by a Seattleman of his Filipina wifewhom he had met whichwould througha mail-orderservice.He had filedforan annulment, preempther greencard application;she had filedfora divorce,claiming battery.Since 1980 sixteenFilipinabrideshave died at thehands oftheir husbandsin Australia."Death becomesher,"or onlyin deathis herstory has tauntedherto expose as a bridetold. Even as popularrepresentation herself,the mail-orderbride rests betweensilence,sedimentation,and death. and women Whatcan be gatheredfroma discourseon transnationalism is a geopoliticsof place and location:how and whywomen are here or thereinsteadof elsewhere,whattheyimplicatein theirspace, whyplace and placelessnessare vitalissues forwomenwho choose to be relocated outside the nationalspace. The imperialistfascinationwithmail-order of a mechanismto imagineits past as a coherent brides is constitutive and nation. However,thecontinuing diasporicmovementof bodies family in transnationalspace atteststo the flexibility, resilience,and versatility, enduranceof theirowners'stories.These narrativesof emplacementand in mappingthebodiesofFilipinasand theirmakinglocationare significant do processesas theyare circulatedand as theynavigatetransnational space.

Roland B. Tolentino

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Notes For theircomments,criticisms,and support,I am thankfulto Delia Aguilar, Ellen Berry,Luisa Aguilar-Carifio, ShirleyGeok-Lim,Randy Martin,and especiallyLynn Spigel. An earlierversionof thisarticlewas read in the panel "Personal/Political: Filipino/aBodies in Postcolonialand Neocolonial Space" at the conference"The Politicsand Poetics of the Body: PacificRim Triangulations," Universityof California,Santa Barbara, 1994. This essay is dedicated to the memoryof Angela Serra (1963-1995), a fellowFilipinatraveler. 1. U.S. multiculturalism, as partof theliberal-pluralist discourse,needs to be invocationof difference as identity on theone hand, exposed forits contradictory and on the other,of a flattening in identity. of difference This latteraspect poses identityunderthe dominantgrid of the hegemonicculture,a racisttendencyto viewall othersas thesame or all othersas different fromoneself.A criticalexaminationof theterrainin whichmulticulturalism is invokedand cognitively experienced in transnationalism is usefulforanyconceptionof radicalmulticulturalism to ensue. The experienceof seeingand acknowledgingthe presenceof different bodies and different entrantsforbodies providesa testof toleranceas to whether the purportedliberal-pluralist agenda genuinelyholds. 2. Donna Haraway,"A CyborgManifesto:Science, Technology,and Socialist-Feminismin the Late TwentiethCentury,"in Simians,Cyborgs,and Women: TheReinvention ofNature(New York:Routledge,1991), 149. 3. Ibid., 150. 4. Ibid., 177. 5. International Labour Organization,WomenWorkers in Multinational Enterprisesin DevelopingCountries(Geneva: ILO, 1985). 6. Rosario del Rosario, Lifeon theAssembly Line: An Alternative Philippine IndustrialWorkers Reporton Women (Quezon City:PhilippineWomen'sCollective, 1986). 7. For an overviewof Philippinemigrantwork,and particularities of Filipinas in overseas employment,referto Mary Ruby Palma-Beltranand Aurora At WhatCost? Javatede Dios, eds., Filipino WomenOverseasContractWorkers: (Manila: Goodwill, 1992). 8. Mary Ruby Palma-Beltran,"Filipino Women Domestic WorkersOverseas: Profileand ImplicationsforPolicy,"in Palma-Beltranand de Dios, Filipino 7. Women, 9. KanlunganCentreFoundation,Inc., "OverseasFilipinaDomesticHelpers' Issues and Problems,"in Palma-Beltranand de Dios, FilipinoWomen, 29. 10. See Anesia Dionisio, "Filipino Nurses Overseas: At What Cost?" in Palma-Beltranand de Dios, FilipinoWomen, 61. 11. AuroraJavatede Dios, "Japayuki-san: Filipinasat Risk,"in Palma-Beltranand de Dios, FilipinoWomen, 39. 12. Quoted in CherryBlossoms,March-April1994, 16. 13. Dean C. Worcester,ThePhilippines Past and Present(New York:Macmillan, 1930), 612. 14. GayatriChakravorty Machine(New York: Spivak,Outsidein theTeaching Routledge,1993). In her foreword,Spivak'sposition("outside in") foregrounds "the marginor 'outside' [as it] entersan institution" and the"kindof [institution] it enters[that]determine[s]its contours"(ix).

Bodies, Letters,Catalogs

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A ParticularHistoryoftheSenses 15. Michael Taussig, Mimesisand Alterity: (New York:Routledge,1993), 232-34. 16. Ibid., 232. 17. MarilynIvy,"Have You Seen Me? Recoveringthe Inner Child in Late America,"Social Text,no. 37 (winter1993): 227-52. Twentieth-Century 18. Meaghan Morris, "On the Beach," in CulturalStudies,ed. Lawrence Grossberg,Cary Nelson, and Paula Treichler(New York:Routledge,1992), 455. As a male fantasy,"the familyromanceis a conservativeas well as a nostalgic genrebecause it allowsthe child'to maturewhilerefusingto progress"'(455). 19. I am specificallyreferring to a studyby sociologistDavor Jedlickaof the Universityof Texas at Tyler,in which he surveyed265 men seekingpartners fromSoutheastAsia. The surveyexcluded the women fromthe data gathering, emphasizing instead the competitionbetween First World and Third World women,and themiddle-and upper-classsocial backgroundsof boththemen and Third World women. See Raymond A. Joseph,"American Men Find Asian Brides Fill the UnliberatedBill," WallStreetJournal,25 January1984, 1; Gary Libman,"LonelyAmericanMales Lookingto theOrientforMail-OrderBrides," Los AngelesTimes,16 September1986, part 4, 1; and StevenLong, "Mail-Order 29 July1991, 1G. Brides,"HoustonChronicle, 20. Quoted in Joseph,"AmericanMen," 1. 21. Rainbow Ridge,Inc., How toMeetExcitingLadiesfromAll overtheWorld (Kapaau, Hawaii: Rainbow Ridge, 1988). 22. "The New Face of America:How ImmigrantsAre Shapingthe World's FirstMulticulturalSociety,"TimeSpecialIssue,22 November1993. 23. This idea of love and disciplineis discussedin VicenteL. Rafael,"White Love: Surveillanceand NationalistResistance in the U.S. Colonization of the ed. Donald Pease and Amy Philippines,"in CulturesofUnitedStatesImperialism, Kaplan (Durham, N.C.: Duke UniversityPress, 1993). Rafael'sprojectsuggests "thatthe linkbetweenbenevolenceand disciplinewas constructedthroughthe and so practiceof surveillancewithrespectto census, popular representation, forth"(187).

Roland B. Tolentino

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