The “Grotesque” Pussy: “Transformational Shame” in Margaret Cho's Stand-up Performances

Abstract

This essay analyzes the performances of Margaret Cho, a queer Asian American stand-up comic. Cho not only performs being swallowed up whole by the performing vagina, but she also details the pain and rage of being “eaten by the other.” Through her performances, Cho makes obvious that bodily boundaries are metaphoric for any boundary the nation feels is threatened or susceptible to invasion. Further, the way she is frequently perceived and/or attacked illustrates that her performances, as well as national responses to such performances, are shaped by and depend upon ideological constructions of the “excessively” raced and sexed body. Yet it is Cho's playful juxtaposition of pride and shame, agency and fear, and pleasure and pain that makes for effective queer performances. As she negotiates and troubles how she is read, Cho urges an intersectional approach to gender, sexuality, race, and nation and an attention to how opposing affects inform the transformations one continually experiences.

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