The pandemic and lockdown have impacted on us all. From personal illness, tragic losses, anxiety, isolation, fieldwork postponement, financial anxieties, childcare/caring responsibility increases, lack of access to research resources, or partners, family and friends. We find ourselves forced into the occasionally uncomfortable work of online communication, which can feel like inviting strangers into your home, sometimes breaking and sometimes creating social barriers and stress. Difficult decisions around housing have an emotional impact; where to stay, sometimes in which country, and for some, the decisions were not theirs to make. For many of us, it is making us think about ourselves, our futures, our connectivity with others, our writing, creativity and our research in different ways.
Lockdown is a feminist issue. Decisions made at a government and institutional levels, as ever, are dispossessing those already at the intersections of oppression in more violent ways. Coronavirus pandemic exacerbates inequalities for women, non-binary and marginalised genders, BAME groups, those with visible and invisible disabilities, those with childcare and caring responsibilities, and those struggling economically. These groups are highly represented in precarious work and the care industries; for example, women represent 70% of the global health workforce. We have already seen huge increases in domestic violence in the UK and difficulties in accessing reproductive healthcare.
Sharing stories is a powerful feminist practice and one that can help us relate to each other in these unsettling and disruptive times and spaces. The CHASE Feminist network would like to provide a forum which is a safe space to share our lockdown experiences, express anxieties and communicate critical and creative responses.
The CHASE Feminist committee invites posts for our blog relating to the pandemic and your experiences of lockdown. This is a very open call and your blog can be in the form of personal reflections, political responses, a discussion of how the pandemic/lockdown relates to your research or creative practice. We would also welcome creative responses such as prose, short stories, video, sound, photography or other visual art.
We ideally recommend that written pieces are no longer than 800 – 1000 words (although we will consider exceptions for longer pieces if they are submitted). All work published will be under a creative commons license, and all copyright remains with the author. Here are some articles so far, but please do not feel limited by the format!
If you are interested in writing a blog, please submit your idea or completed blog post to chase.feminist@gmail.com with the email title: Everyday Feminist Lockdown Blog.
Please note: We value, respect and encourage contributions from members of this network and beyond, from all marginalised genders, including women, trans women, trans men, nonbinary genders, and also from feminist allies. We recognise and respect the intersectionality of feminism and the various levels of oppression experienced by women and nonbinary individuals across class and racial lines — especially the vulnerability of those with disabilities and transgender women of colour.
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