TY - JOUR
T1 - Shutting down sex
T2 - COVID-19, sex, and the transformation of singledom
AU - McKenzie, Lara
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This article examines the transformation of singledom during the COVID-19 pandemic, scrutinising the impact of rules and regulations governing proximity, touch and sex. I focus on government responses in Australia, situating the nation’s experience in a global context. National discussions were strangely sexless, presuming widespread coupledom and emphasising the lost, non-sexual intimacies of families and older people. I contrast this to broader theoretical claims of a ‘transformation of intimacy’ that posit a move to atomised relations across the Global North, including a growing tendency towards singledom. Yet assumptions of coupledom clearly persist in Australian policy and social life. I reflect on transformations of singledom and living alone during and prior to the pandemic, exposing tensions between theorisations, local realities, and the governance of sex and singledom.
AB - This article examines the transformation of singledom during the COVID-19 pandemic, scrutinising the impact of rules and regulations governing proximity, touch and sex. I focus on government responses in Australia, situating the nation’s experience in a global context. National discussions were strangely sexless, presuming widespread coupledom and emphasising the lost, non-sexual intimacies of families and older people. I contrast this to broader theoretical claims of a ‘transformation of intimacy’ that posit a move to atomised relations across the Global North, including a growing tendency towards singledom. Yet assumptions of coupledom clearly persist in Australian policy and social life. I reflect on transformations of singledom and living alone during and prior to the pandemic, exposing tensions between theorisations, local realities, and the governance of sex and singledom.
KW - Australia, couples, COVID-19, family, intimacy, law, sex, singles
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097537613&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3167/aia.2020.270302
DO - 10.3167/aia.2020.270302
M3 - Article
SN - 0967-201X
VL - 27
SP - 9
EP - 13
JO - Anthropology in Action
JF - Anthropology in Action
IS - 3
ER -