Exploring the cybersex phenomenon in the Philippines
Abstract
In its “Philippine Information Society” discourse, the State promotes Filipino service-based ICT skills while condemning other “offensive” and “illegal” activities, such as cybersex. This dichotomy fails to capture the complex nature of the cybersex phenomenon, and accordingly, the varied lived experiences of individuals in the context of an emergent “Information Society.” We wish to broaden the discursive space by adopting the affective labor perspective and showcasing cybersex narratives that traverse themes of exploitation, negotiation, resistance, and agency in ICT use. Using two case studies, we illustrate how cybersex is experienced, organized, mediated, and made meaningful. We also describe how laborers are inscribed in mechanisms of surveillance and control, as they develop counter-measures to compromise, challenge or take advantage of these mechanisms. Our analysis reveals that cybersex laborers create value, not just in monetizing their labor, but also in pursuing autonomy, personal development, and kinship-oriented care. The lived experiences of cybersex laborers also produce new and potent forms of bio-politics. These multi-faceted narratives problematize the State-sponsored ICT discourse. On one hand, laborers embody the impositions made upon service-based labor by the global digital economy: rudimentary technological skills, the ability to speak English, the ability to empathize and foster customer relations. On the other, their exclusion engendered the refusal to be subjected to the standards and prerequisites of the legitimate, “formal” digital economy. Cybersex’s anomalous position, we contend, is a reflexive by-product of the neoliberal digital economy that puts premium less on ICT for development and more on labor that serves, foremost, ICT for capital.
Description
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Journal Article (peer-reviewed)
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Text
Keywords
CYBERSEX, PHILIPPINES, AFFECTIVE LABOR
Citation
Cruz, E.M, & Sajo, T.J. (2015). Exploring the Cybersex Phenomenon in the Philippines. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 69(5): 1-21.