CROWDFUNDING: WHO DECIDES WHEN IT’S OK?

IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, DON’T FUND IT

AMBER LOVE 24-MAR-2015 As you know, I have a Patreon set up for helping with expenses of running an entire site and a podcast. I’m used to paying for all this myself with money from modeling and office work when I could get it. I’ve also used GoFundMe on two occasions: the first, to get my own comics printed up so I could have a few for signings; the second to get the customized USBs made for our last charity event. I’ve only ever asked for a few hundred dollars at a time and I was brought to tears that my friends, fans, and strangers would chip in to help. My ex even had people donate things to her so we could make her a couple costumes – which was really that I made costumes and was selling them and people bought them for her instead of a stranger buying them. They were people who asked if they could do anything to help and there are platforms now, like GoFundMe, that make it infinitely easier (safer) than sending a check in the mail.

I’m not one to really get behind random cosplayers who want funds for their outfits or to attend cons. It’s freaking hard as a creator too, but there’s a notion that one thing is more valid than the other. I know a ton of people simply detest the notion of “cosplay celebrity” because it’s taken the hobby and greased with that air of reality television stink which tends to make people humiliated more than revered most of the time. I’ve been broke more years than I’ve been comfortable. I know all about not being able to make a new costume unless I can pull magic out of scraps. I also know what it’s like to wear a pair of shoes for 10 years.

My point is, I might not like why someone is asking for funds, but that isn’t some kind of green light to harass them. And I’m not sugar coating anything; I hate people like Amanda Palmer who have millions of dollars and keep asking for money; but I sure as hell am not going to send her personal messages about it. The reactions of some people to cosplayers, particularly ones like me that intertwine it with adult entertainment, is off the wall crazy. If you don’t like it, don’t fund it. I’ve seen tons of campaigns I didn’t like. I’ve known people who are close to me that made attempts at things, but I didn’t like their projects. The cool thing about it is, no one is forcing you to donate to anything. It’s for people who can and who want to. If you don’t fall into that category, it’s quite easy to move along as if you hadn’t even seen it.

We’re talking about a few hundred dollars in most cases. We are not talking Ferguson/Darren Wilson million dollar campaigns that are rife with problematic politics and systemic racism which caused DEATHS. We’re talking about people who make creative content (aka., art) others don’t like; or rather, they do like it, but they want it for free.

I’m under no obligation to protect the identity of harassers. I get a small amount of shit oozing through here because of places like trollchan and r3ddit. If I ever hide the identity of a harasser, it’s because I tried to avoid any possible way they’ll be easily searchable, find my site, and give me more grief.

Below are examples of something going on in the last 24 hours with another Cosplay Deviant model, Ivy. I don’t know Ivy, but whatever, we have this connection because of the site. There’s actually a lot of stuff about the people at the site that I disagree with (such as how many are GGers and rape culture). I don’t care. I don’t need to be someone’s friend IRL to stand up for them. This woman hasn’t done anything to deserve harassment.

It’s clear that this person John refers to “we” making it known that he represents some kind of group of dudes that targets women they take issue with. This is typical, by-the-book MRA behavior. They can’t get naked women for free IRL so they actually take time and energy out of their lives to troll online or at conventions (like the ones that go after Brianna Wu). John has no connection to Ivy that I can deduce. He has no reason to be pissing on her parade. If he doesn’t like the idea that fans of hers are chipping in for her to attend a con, he could be a reasonable human being and recognize that it doesn’t affect his life in any capacity and click to a different part of the internet. Instead, he and people like him, see women as targets. If she can’t be his trophy, then she needs to be abused.

Yes, you bottom-dweller, cosplay is for attention. As is singing, playing in a band, acting, designing fashion, being a CEO and speaking in front of thousands of people about how great you are for a company. There are way more people in arts and entertainment that are seeking attention and paid work than cosplayers.

I’m sure there are millions of others articles by other feminists who can dissect this behavior better than I can. When a man says the woman is entitled because she wants to be paid to do something, he’s showing his own sense of entitlement in oppressing her and shutting her down.

Men are freaking the fuck out because, since webcam and streaming, women have taken their precious pornography sanctum and finally made it feminist – made by women, shared by women, supporting other women. Men who aren’t secure enough feel threatened by these actions. That somehow we’re going to magically become a planet of lesbian dykes that will never fuck them. Dude, we won’t fuck you because you’re an asshole who likes to troll not because of we feel entitled to anything other than better men to be around.

I can’t even figure out the comments about “prostitutes.” Is that supposed to insult the woman or the people supporting her campaign? And, yes, doing cheesecake or porn can be considered a form of sex work, so why exactly does that threaten this dude? If you aren’t the one paying for it, producing it, or otherwise in a relationship with these women, your opinion means nothing. Go make your own sub thread. Have a fucking blast. Get the fuck off her Facebook. One of my other alt modeling friends said something like, “If you don’t feed me, fuck me, or fund me, you don’t get a say in my behavior.”

WHY WOULD ANYONE CROWDFUND A CON?

One thing people who hate this idea of adult models going to cons might not realize is that it’s often an opportunity for us to shoot with photographers we don’t live near, work with other models or costume designers, or just get to a new location. That’s what I did after Steampunk World’s Fair. I wasn’t doing a shoot officially for anyone, but I was finally away from home and set up my self-timer and did three shoots on my own. I don’t have that option at home. So if people want content, they need to make it happen. Just like….. the VERONICA MARS movie, Amanda Palmer’s entire life, or CON MAN by Alan Tudyk. You can’t tell me those celebrities didn’t have the options of writing checks themselves or getting their rich friends like Joss Whedon to back them. They do it because it’s a direct interaction with people who support their art. If you don’t like it, don’t fund it!

Make no mistake about the motivations of a troll. It’s about their attempt to gain any kind of power in their powerless lives. It’s pick up artist mentalities where the only way they know how to talk to women is to insult them because they’ve been spoonfed bad boy etiquette that states women love abuse.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.