IN THE MOOD TO CHANGE THE WORLD
VOGUE HOMMES
What impact did the virus, and the period in general, have on you?
PAUL B. PRECIADO It was an important experience. I fell ill early on in the crisis. I was feverish and at one point I couldn’t see out of my left eye because the optic nerve had become swollen. I was alone the entire time I was sick. I knew I could die and that no one would be able to come and see me. I’ve always travelled a lot and despite working in body politics, I was constantly living beyond my physical and corporeal means. The virus connected me to my own vulnerability and, more widely, the vulnerability which our capitalist, patriarchal and colonialist lifestyle has put us in.
VOGUE HOMMES
Do you think lockdown really has changed our way of thinking, our values and how we apprehend our lives? Or should we be worried that this is all superficial and we’ll go back to how we were before?
It’s my belief that the virus didn’t just trigger a health, economic and political
