The power of sharing with support: Exploring the process and roles involved in sharing vulnerability in solidarity

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the process and the intertwined and entangled roles involved in sharing vulnerability in solidarity through collective autoethnographic exploration. We draw on the sharing process we engaged with in relation to the personal experience of one of us with long COVID-related vulnerability, in addition to and intensified by the gendered vulnerability of being a mother during lockdown in the context of academia. Together, we reflect on the roles of sharer and supporter we took on in the process of sharing vulnerability and bring light to the emotions that preceded the sharing, the reasons for ultimately sharing with others, the act of sharing, the reactions to and consequences of it, the feelings aroused by sharing and how sharing could be supported. Over time, sharing those vulnerabilities with each other, finding support, and sharing with the work environment became an empowering research and healing project. The insights obtained from our experience are discussed in the context of the existing literature on gendered vulnerability and feminist solidarity, contributing an embodied and relational perspective to the process and entangled roles involved in sharing vulnerability and feminist writing.