Abstract
ABSTRACT This essay turns to reality television to perform trans of color criticism. Taking as its analytic focus the embodied performance – and concomitant mediated production – of whiteness by Asian American drag queen competitor Gia Gunn on the reality competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race [Bailey, F., Barbato, R., Campbell, T., RuPaul, Corfe, S., Post, P., & Salangsang, M. (Executive Producers). (2012). RuPaul's drag race all stars [TV series]. World of Wonder Productions]. We argue that Gia exploits what Nishime, L. [(2017). Mixed race matters. Cinema Journal, 56(3), 148–152. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2017.0031] calls the “perceived malleability of Asianness,” allowing her to perform a queer version of white womanhood. In turn, media producers orientalize Gia’s performance, effectively constructing a trans femme formation in transmisogynistic terms. In turn, and in the words of Nakayama, T. [(2012). Dis/orienting identities. In A. Gonzalez, M. Houston, & Y. Chen (Eds.), Our voices (pp. 20–25). Oxford University Press], the racialized trans formation “dis/orients” mediated tropes constraining Asianness.
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