Contexts by Laura M. Carpenter | December 26, 2020 | Fall 2020
In March 2020, a joke made the rounds on the Interweb as more and more U.S. workplaces, schools, and other social institutions asked people to sequester themselves at home in order to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Q: What do you get nine months after a national quarantine? A: Maternity wards full of newborns named Corona and Fauci.
The joke pivots on the assumption that adults who suddenly find themselves stuck at home with nothing much to do will eventually wind up having sex. Lots of sex. And, as everyone knows, one potential result of a certain kind of sex, between certain kinds of partners, is babies.