‘Hey, I like ur videos. Super relate!’ Locating sisterhood in a postcolonial intimate public on YouTube

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Communication

Document Type

Article

Source Title

Information Communication and Society

Volume

23

Issue

6

First Page

892

Last Page

907

Publication Date

5-11-2020

Abstract

This paper re-examines YouTube as a site of feminine, networked, and intimate sociality among Filipino women online. We unpack this by identifying how commenters on YouTube engage with the performativity of an intimate relationship between a Filipina and her foreign husband on YouTube. Extending Mina Roces’ concept of ‘local sisterhood’ in the digital context, we coin the term ‘online sisterhood’ to articulate the diverse ways through which Filipino women engage with interracial intimacies in the realm of online communication. By conducting a thematic analysis of comments on a popular YouTube channel of a Filipina married to a Caucasian man, we uncover the dimensions of an unfolding online sisterhood as aspirational, relatable, regulatory, and defensive modalities. We argue that these frames are informed by gendered, racialized and even class-based aspirations and contestations tied to Philippine postcolonial history and society. Ultimately, as a site for feminine sociality and intimacy, YouTube also becomes an avenue for constructing, reinforcing and countering the stereotypical representations of Filipino women in a networked and postcolonial space. © 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1080/1369118X.2020.1751864

Disciplines

Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication | International and Intercultural Communication

Keywords

Interracial marriage; YouTube (Electronic resource)

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