Imagined Futures of Sexual Health, Anti-Racism, and COVID-19 in England

Description

This paper explores the transformative effects of imagined futures of sexual health and well-being during and after COVID-19 crisis in England. The paper focuses on two COVID-related visual media projects produced by The Love Tank – a London-based community outreach organisation supporting the health and wellbeing of underserved communities through education, capacity building, and research. First, this paper examines the comic series ‘Sex & the Coronavirus’ (2020) and draws out the significance of the series’ pleasure-focused ethos amidst a COVID-19 health promotion arena informed by messages about abstinence and partner reduction. Second, the paper traces the emergence of the Black Health Matters project (2021-present), which links the comic series and the American Black Lives Matter movement to address Black health inequities, to expose systemic and institutional racism, and to visualise and contest potential futures with and beyond existing inequalities. The paper’s central focus is the role imagined futures play in centralising Black and Brown health within post-pandemic media. The paper argues that COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted marginalised communities and imagined futures have helped these communities to reassert the necessity of anti-racist and decolonial strategies and created a platform to tackle health inequalities within the emerging arena of post-pandemic sexual health promotion

Period	5 Oct 2023 → 6 Oct 2023
Event title	Post-Pandemic Futures: Cultural Meeting Points
Event type	Conference
Location	Maynooth, IrelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International