‘This was like some <i>Little House on the Prairie</i> shit’: The intensive care(work) of making PPE during COVID-19

Stalp, Marybeth C.; Leap, Braden; Kelly, Kimberly

doi:10.1080/00222216.2022.2142082

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 62 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Makers around the world created homemade masks, ear guards, face shields, and hand sanitizer. They distributed this PPE to friends, family, hospitals, and their local communities (Leap, Kelly, and Stalp 2022a; Leap, Stalp, and Kelly 2022b; Hahn and Bhaduri 2021; Hong 2021; Martindale, Armstead, and McKinney 2021; Schnittka 2021; Stalp, Leap, and Kelly 2023). Maker efforts proliferated via social media networks, matching PPE supply and demand (Leap, Kelly, and Stalp 2022a; Leap, Stalp, and Kelly 2022b; Martindale, Armstead, and McKinney 2021).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Volunteer COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment Makers: Third Sphere Labor, Caring Masculinities, and Redoing Gender

Kelly

Leap

Stalp

2023

Men and Masculinities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the opening months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., thousands of volunteer makers stepped up to produce PPE through third sphere labor, volunteer work that emphasizes community maintenance. Drawing on 78 semi-structured interviews and 662 open-ended questionnaires, we consider how third sphere carework could destabilize hierarchies between public, private, and third sphere labor and in the valuation of feminized versus masculinized work. We find women and men makers differed in what they made, but not in their motivations for producing PPE or how they valued the work of other makers. Makers rejected the idea that they should perform such work without any appreciation from third sphere recipients, but private sphere demands limited women makers more than men. Throughout men makers’ efforts, we find ample evidence of caring masculinities as a response to disaster. We conclude with a consideration of what these trends mean for redoing gender and third sphere carework.

show abstract