| dc.description.abstract | Through the frameworks of feminist and Marxist theory and the case study of Susana Remerata Blackwell, I aim to redefine the relationship of Filipina marriage migrants to capitalism by arguing that their skill of domesticity and sexual labor qualify as “surplus labor,” according to Marx’s own definition. Recognizing the absence of discussions of labor as gendered and sexualized in Marxist thought, I argue that Marx’s theoretical frameworks are still valuable in conceptualizing the experiences of Filipina marriage migrants. Moreover, I describe how these experiences can be understood as what I term “consensual trafficking,” wherein Filipina women knowingly enter contractual marriages in which domestic and sexual labor is expected of them with the hope of receiving socioeconomic benefits in exchange for this labor. I argue that this labor can be understood within the frameworks of Marx’s theory of “surplus value,” where the manufacturing costs of a product are low in comparison to the profit earned through the sale of that product. By utilizing this theory, I describe how the initial monetary “investment” of American men into their marriages is eventually surpassed in value by the domestic and sexual labor of the foreign wife. This labor establishes the Filipina marriage migrants as human capital- a product capable of being exploited by their husbands under capitalism and the Western patriarchy. These concepts are exemplified through the published experiences of Susana Remerata Blackwell, a Filipina marriage migrant who was publicly murdered by her American husband shortly after her transnational relocation to the United States. Overall, I re-examine Marx’s compatibility with feminist theory while furthering feminist discussion of mail-order-bride conjugal relationships as well as the gendered and sexual violence present within these unions. | en |
