"From Rag to Doll": Spectacular Femininity, Orgasmic Force, and Economies of Vulgarity in Dominican Popular Television

Abstract

This article follows the figure ofTV hostess and beauty queen Carolyne Aquino, to trace different forms of agency amidst what Maurizio Lazzarato calls "the indebted economy". By deploying Marcia Ochoa's concept of "spectacular femininity" and Preciado's concept of "potentia gaudendi" I analyze Aquino's performance as TV hostess, her use of cosmetic technologies and in-corporation of spectacular notions of female beauty, and her management of vulgarity -intended here as a limit imposed to the presentation of female bodies in Dominican television- to stress and test these boundaries.