“Looking Both Ways”: Metaphor and the Rhetorical Alignment of Intersectional Climate Justice and Reproductive Justice Concerns

Abstract

While rhetorical approaches are common in communication inquiry, metaphor's role in shaping our understanding of the intersection of environmental and social justice issues has not fully been explored. This essay seeks to address this deficit by examining “Looking Both Ways: Women's Lives at the Crossroads of Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice,” a publication of Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice. The text employs the metaphor of “looking both ways” to argue that climate and reproductive justice agenda setting should be aligned to simultaneously mitigate climate change and advance women's reproductive freedom. I contend “looking both ways” offers an innovative epistemological framework for articulating the intersections of climate and reproductive justice, as well as a convincing rationale for cultivating cross-movement coalitions. However, my analysis suggests that the organization's call to align climate and reproductive justice should be embraced with the acknowledgment that “looking both ways” limits a comprehensive coalitional perspective. This essay enhances current understandings of climate and reproductive justice concerns and demonstrates why diverse stakeholders committed to environmental causes must also support reproductive freedom.