Ties that bind: An inclusive feminist approach to subvert gendered “othering” in times of crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic, as an ongoing societal crisis, compounds pre-existing intersectional inequalities. Since the start of this crisis, those on the margins—women, single parents, LGBTQ+, Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic peoples—and those living in precarity and poverty found themselves increasingly “othered.” As a group of academics who encounter gendered reality in disparate ways, we unite through this paper to prioritize a collective ethic of care as a counter-narrative to the “business as usual” rhetoric that endures as our oppressive reality. In responding to this special issue, a (dis)embodied alterethnographical text is offered, encompassing four evocative reflections on symbolic annihilation to “unmute” our individual voices. We present an inclusive discussion to connect our disconnected otherness, collectively resisting the dominant, patriarchal narratives, through non-linear, “messy writing.” Our contribution is threefold. First, we empirically contribute to dismantling heteronormative binarism by reclaiming our collective voices as a loud rebuttal to hegemony. Second, through collective conceptualizations of gendered crisis, we problematize theorizing gender from a unified conceptual lens to demonstrate the importance of an inclusive approach to feminism. Finally, a collective discussion of our cumulative experiences, contributes to the writing differently agenda, subverting the limitations of the encountered gender binaries.