Patriarcavirus, feminist dystopias and COVID-19Reflections on the phenomenon of gender pandemics

  1. Almudena Machado Jiménez
Revue:
Feminismo/s

ISSN: 1696-8166 1989-9998

Année de publication: 2021

Titre de la publication: Women, sexual identity and language / Mujer, identidad sexual y lenguaje

Número: 38

Pages: 359-388

Type: Article

DOI: 10.14198/FEM.2021.38.14 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openRUA editor

D'autres publications dans: Feminismo/s

Résumé

This essay examines contemporary feminist dystopias to study the phenomenon of gender pandemics. Gender pandemic narrative allegorises possible aftermaths of patriarcavirus, unleashing many natural disasters that force global biopolitics to hinder gender equality. The main objective of this essay is to explain how gender pandemics are appropriated in patriarchal utopian discourses as a pretext to control female empowerment, diagnosing women as diseased organisms that risk the state’s well-being. Moreover, the novels explore the interdependence between biology and sociality, portraying the acute vulnerability of female bodies during and after the pandemic conflicts, inasmuch as patriarchal power arranges a hierarchical value system of living that reinforces gender discrimination. Particularly, the COVID-19 emergency is analysed as a gender pandemic: the exacerbated machismo and the growing distress in the female population prove that women are afflicted with a suffocating patriarcavirus, which has critically gagged them in the first year of the pandemic.

Références bibliographiques

  • Achtelik, K. (2020, June 26). Can feminists be blamed for Corona? Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. Gunda Werner Institute. www.gwi-boell.de/en/2020/06/02/can-feminists-be-blamed-for-Corona
  • Ahrenfeldt, L. J., Otavova M., Christensen K., & Lindahl-Jacobsen R. (2021). Sex and age differences in COVID-19 mortality in Europe. Wien Klin Wochenschr, 333, 393-398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-020-01793-9
  • Atwood, M. (1985). The handmaid's tale. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  • Blakemore, C., & Jennett, S. (2001). Disease. The Oxford companion to the body. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780198524038.001.0001
  • Blaskó, Z., Papadimitriou, E., & Manca, A. R. (2020). How will the COVID-19 crisis affect existing gender divides in Europe. EU Science Hub: The European Commission's Science and Knowledge Service. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/37511
  • Bloem, J. R., & Salemi C. (2021). COVID-19 and conflict. World Development, 140, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105294
  • Braidotti, R. (1994). Nomadic subjects: Embodiment and sexual difference in contemporary feminist theory. Columbia University Press.
  • Braidotti, R. (2002). Metamorphosis. Towards a materialist theory of becoming. Polity Press.
  • Butler, J. (2020, March 30). Capitalism has its limits. Verso Books. https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4603-capitalism-has-its-limits
  • Bwire, G. M. (2020). Coronavirus: why men are more vulnerable to Covid-19 than women? SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine, 2, 874-876. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-020-00341-w
  • Cassese, E. C., Farhart C. E., & Miller J. M. (2020). Gender differences in COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs. Politics & Gender, 16(4), 1009-1018. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X20000409
  • Cockburn, C. (2004). The continuum of violence: a gender perspective on war and peace. In W. Giles & J. Hyndman (Eds.), Sites of violence: Gender and conflict zones (pp. 24-44). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520230729.003.0002
  • Cohn, C. (2013). Women and wars: Towards a conceptual framework. In C. Cohn (Ed.), Women and wars (pp. 1-5). Polity Press.
  • Cook, D. (2020). The New Wilderness. Faber & Faber.
  • Dalcher, C. (2018). Vox. Berkeley.
  • Davenport M. H., Meyer S., Meah V. L., Strynadka M. C., & Khurana R. (2020). Moms are not ok: COVID-19 and maternal mental health. Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 1(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2020.00001
  • El País. (2020, March 9). Día Internacional de la Mujer: Así te hemos contado las manifestaciones del 8 de marzo en directo. El País. https://elpais.com/sociedad/dia-de-la-mujer/2020-03-08/dia-internacional-de-la-mujer-las-manifestaciones-del-8-de-marzo-en-directo.html
  • Elison, M. (2014). The book of the unnamed midwife. 47North.
  • Evans, M. L., Lindauer, M., & Farrell, M. E. (2020). A pandemic within a pandemic: Intimate partner violence during Covid-19. The New England Journal of Medicine, 383(4), 2302-2304. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2024046
  • Fortier, N. (2020). COVID-19, gender inequality, and the responsibility of the state. International Journal of Wellbeing, 10(3), 77-93. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v10i3.1305
  • Galindo, M. (2020). Desobediencia, por tu culpa voy a sobrevivir. Sopa de Wuhan. Pensamiento contemporáneo en tiempos de pandemia (pp. 119-128). ASPO.
  • Gausman, J., & Langer A. (2020). Sex and gender disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Women's Health, 29(4), 465-466. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2020.8472
  • Global Health 50/50. (2021, April 27). The COVID-19 Sex-Disaggregated Data Tracker. Global Health 50/50. https://globalhealth5050.org/the-sex-gender-and-covid-19-project/the-data-tracker/
  • Goldstein, J. S. (2001). War and gender. Cambridge University Press.
  • Gomel, E. (2000). The plague of utopias: Pestilence and the apocalyptic body. Twentieth-century Literature, 46(4), 406-433. https://doi.org/10.2307/827840
  • Grosz, E. (1994). Volatile bodies: Towards a corporeal feminism. Indiana University Press.
  • Hartmann, H. (2017). The unhappy marriage of Marxism and feminism: Towards a more progressive union. In C. R. McCann & S-K. Kim (Eds.), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives (pp. 214-228). Routledge.
  • Hernando, A. (2018). La fantasía de la individualidad. Sobre la construcción sociohistórica del sujeto moderno. Traficantes de sueños.
  • Illiano, E., Trama F., & Costantini E. (2020). Could COVID‐19 have an impact on male fertility? Andrologia, 52(6), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1111/and.13654
  • Instituto de la Mujer (España). (2020). La perspectiva de género, esencial en la respuesta a la COVID-19. Instituto de la Mujer y para la Igualdad de Oportunidades. https://www.inmujer.gob.es/diseno/novedades/IMPACTO_DE_GENERO_DEL_COVID_19_(uv).pdf
  • Jin, J-M., Bai, P., He, W., Wu, F., Liu X-F., Han D-M., Liu S., & Yang J-K. (2020). Gender differences in patients with COVID-19: focus on severity and mortality. Frontiers in Public Health, 8 (152), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00152
  • Kang, J. (2019, September 2). Conversation: Larissa Lai. Medium, Sine Theta Magazine. https://sinethetamag.medium.com/conversation-larissa-lai-73e0a19d7196
  • Katz, L. (2015). The orchid nursery. Lacuna.
  • Kopel, J., Perisetti, A., Roghani, A., Aziz, M., Gajendran, M., & Gajendran, H. (2020). Racial and gender-based differences in COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health, 8(418), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00418
  • Lai, L. (2018). The Tiger Flu. Arsenal Pulp Press.
  • Liu, N., Zhang, F., Wei, C., Jia, Y., Shang, Z., Sun, L., Wu, L., Sun, Z., Zhou, Y., Wang, Y., & Liu, W. (2020). Prevalence and predictors of PTSS during COVID-19 outbreak in china hardest-hit areas: gender differences matter. Psychiatry Research, 287, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112921
  • Lorenzini, D. (2021). Biopolitics in the time of Coronavirus. Critical Inquiry, 47(S2), S40-45. https://doi.org/10.1086/711432
  • Mackintosh, S. (2018). The Water Cure. Anchor.
  • Mannering, L. (2020, May 29). Spain's right wing sees Coronavirus crisis as opportunity. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/29/spain-right-wing-coronavirus-crisis-opportunity-feminism-women-rights-protest-march-8m/
  • Melamed, J. (2017). Gather the daughters. Tinder Press.
  • Méndez-Giménez, A., Cecchini, J. A., Fernández-Río, J., & Carriedo, A. (2021). Physical activity and prevention of depressive symptoms in the Spanish population during confinement due to COVID-19. Psicothema, 33(1), 111-117. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2020.294
  • Ministerio de Igualdad (España). Guía de actuación para mujeres que estén sufriendo violencia de género en situación de permanencia domiciliaria derivada del estado de alarma por COVID-19. Delegación del Gobierno contra la Violencia de Género. https://violenciagenero.igualdad.gob.es/informacionUtil/covid19/GuiaVictimasVGCovid19.pdf
  • Moylan, T. (1986). Demand the impossible: Science fiction and the utopian imagination. Methuen.
  • Nast, H. J., & Pile, S. (1998). Introduction: MakingPlacesBodies. In H. J. Nast and S. Pile (Eds.), Places through the body (pp. 1-14). Routledge.
  • O'Neill, L. (2014). Only ever yours. Quercus.
  • Pando-Canteli, M. J., & Aurrekoetxea-Casaus, M. (2020). Prácticas discursivas feministas: Análisis de los lemas de la manifestación del 8M en Bilbao. Feminismo/s, 36, 205-229. https://doi.org/10.14198/fem.2020.36.09
  • Paracer, S., & Ahmadjian, V. (2000). Symbiosis: An introduction to biological associations. Oxford University Press.
  • Peterman, A., Potts, A., O'Donnell, M., Thompson, K., Shah, N., Oertelt-Pirigione, S., & van Gelder, N. (2020, April 1). Pandemics and violence against women and children. Center for Global Development. https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/pandemics-and-vawg-april2.pdf
  • Porta, M. (2018). Chronic disease. In J. M. Last (Ed.), A dictionary of public health. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780191844386.001.0001
  • Preciado, P. B. (2020, March 28). Aprendiendo del virus. El País, https://elpais.com/elpais/2020/03/27/opinion/1585316952_026489.html
  • Qian, Y., & Fuller, S. (2020). COVID-19 and the gender employment gap among parents of young children. Canadian Public Policy, 46(S2), S89-S101. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-077
  • Reichelt M., Makovi, K., & Sargsyan, A. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on gender inequality in the labor market and gender-role attitudes. European Societies, 23, S228-S245. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2020.1823010
  • Shak, B. (2018). Before She Sleeps. Delphinium.
  • Sharma, G., Volgman A. S., & Michos, E. D. (2020). Sex differences in mortality from COVID-19 pandemic: Are men vulnerable and women protected? JACC: Case Reports, 2(9), 1407-1410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccas.2020.04.027
  • Small Arms Survey. (2012, February). Femicide: A global problem. Small Arms Survey Research Notes, 14. http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/H-Research_Notes/SAS-Research-Note-14.pdf
  • The New American Bible. (2002). The Holy See. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/_INDEX.HTM
  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2019). Global study on homicide: Gender-related killing of women and girls. UNODC. https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/Booklet_5.pdf
  • UN Women. (2020, May 27). Impact of COVID-19 on violence against women and girls and service provision: UN women rapid assessment and findings. UN Women Data Hub. https://data.unwomen.org/publications/impact-covid-19-violence-against-women-and-girls-and-service-provision-un-women-rapid
  • UN Women. (2020, June 26). COVID-19 and gender monitor. UN Women Data Hub. https://data.unwomen.org/resources/covid-19-and-gender-monitor
  • UN Women. (2020). COVID-19 and conflict: Advancing women's meaningful participation in ceasefires and peace processes. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/08/policy-brief-covid-19-and-conflict
  • UN Women. (2021). Strengthening gender measures and data in the COVID-19 era: An urgent need for change. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2021/03/strengthening-gender-measures-and-data-in-the-covid-19-era
  • UN Women, UNICEF & ILO. (2020). Family-friendly policies and other good workplace practices in the context of COVID-19: Key steps employers can take. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/03/family-friendly-policies-and-other-good-workplace-practices-in-the-context-of-covid-19
  • Usher, K., Bhullar, N., Durkin, J., Gyamfi N., & Debra, J. (2020). Family violence and COVID‐19: Increased vulnerability and reduced options for support. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 29, 549-552. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12735
  • World Health Organization. (n.d.). Constitution. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/constitution
  • World Health Organization. (2020, May 14). Gender and COVID-19: Advocacy brief. IRIS World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/332080
  • Young, A. (2020, April 17). Pandemic set to worsen gender inequalities, UN warns [video]. France 24. https://www.france24.com/en/20200417-51percent-pandemic-set-to-worsen-gender-inequalities-un-warns
  • Zamberlan, A., Gioachin F., & Gritti, D. (2021). Work less, help out more? The persistence of gender inequality in housework and childcare during UK COVID-19. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2021.100583