What is the effect of space on the rhetoric of securitization, particularly in the context of gender relations. There’s something about space that our neoliberal epoch doesn’t quite understand. Is this unsurprising when counties, towns, and homes seem to be carbon copies of one another? Securitization, to paraphrase the one paper that I read on the topic (the release of which can only be described as “dropped” on twitter) is the transformation of political issues into security issues1 – with a particular focus on the rhetoric that is used to justify this transformation. Reading the Yellow Wall-Paper, what stood out to what particularly was the Rhetoric of the Doctor-husband (in that order, with that emphasis) justified his acts of care and how this was related to space. Either John’s (and I claim the ability to use an asshole’s first name) acts of care can be thought as being on a spectrum from embodying carceral care or far less interestingly a personally the acts of a 19th century male using his privilege to excuse being an asshole2. Then what is carceral care ? Carceral care is acts of care that reinforce structures of policing, both cultural and literal. John throughout the Yellow Wall-paper uses rhetoric and attitudes that work to reinforce patriarchy, to the point that the narrator-wife has a tendency to police her actions. To such an extent that even when the narrator knows what she needs, she carries out the wishes of her husband. This rhetoric is not simply an act of self-policing, but an act of justification of John’s medical malpractice. John’s rhetoric here serves to reinforce gendered hierarchy, where John as a birthright has more agency than the narrator (wow, patriarchy is bad, actually). The largest issue of this type of rhetoric extrapolating it is exactly a nervous condition. John’s worry that the narrator is properly healing is less about his patient-wife heals, but rather discomfort with being questioned. The narrator by asking for modifications of her lived circumstance is not simply asking for change, but implicitly (to John) questioning his authority. This draws parallels to the aforementioned paper, which demonstrates the influence that feminization rhetoric has on justifying military action by Russia. Due to the pervasiveness of the association of women as weak or a threat across culture, rhetoric that feminizes the object of securitization is used as a tool to justify intervention. In the Ukrainian case, Putin, Russian Media, and memes have since 2014 employed rhetoric that portrays Ukraine as a woman with loose morals. When Ukraine is portrayed as a harlot in Russian rhetoric, while simultaneously Russia is portrayed as hypermasculine, leads to a justification that the noble Russian State has the right or duty to save Ukraine from itself. Returning to the Yellow Wallpaper, the parallel is clear, John is less interested in the Narrator’s health than what it means to him. Perhaps, this is what leads him to necessitate such an isolated method of care. Not only does the Narrator’s continued deterioration lead to her becoming more dependent on John, at least in theory it does not allow her to be unreasonable and question John. The unfortunate reality of existence and space however is that it cannot simply be static in time. Buildings, Societies, Nations, and wallpapers will decompose if not maintained. This does not mean that a new suitor, returning to Eastern Europe for a second, such as the West, will solve and rebuild nurture in the East. Rather, either if a relationship is needed in both the Narrator’s and the East’s case: the members of the relationship must come as equals. Otherwise, fuck John – there are no damsels in distress, and all heroes are dead, time to file a divorce since the church allows it now.
1 Gaufman, Elizaveta. 2022. “Damsels in Distress: Fragile Masculinity in Digital War.” Media, War & Conflict, October
2 It is interesting to note that most of the male characters we have read in class seem to be assholes to me
Leave a Reply