Signal Boost: on fandom, money, barriers, and gatekeeping
Via 
shipperslist, a post by
in_seclusion: that currency thread
In the US, $20 is a good meal, or a book, or 2 hours' wage in some states (bless cities or states with $15/hr).
Here, $20 is my grocery bill for two weeks. It is my transport/commute budget for 5 days, or my food budget for 5-10 days. It is 1-2 days' worth of wages. It's a lot of money.
I don't think people recognize just how big the disparity is. So when people say things are only $20, or even only $10, ah, it's not really an only. Not for a lot of us who earn outside of those currencies.
The other thing is, for us who live outside the US, EU, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, or the like-- we aren't considered major markets, and so some things come to us much slower. That is if they ever come to us at all. There's often a high chance that it will never come to us, no matter how much we ask, because we're not a market consideration.
This started out as a twitter thread, and some of the replies they got are appalling:
I had people telling me in the replies “if you can’t afford to be in fandom, then you don’t belong here.” I was also told: “It sucks that your country’s economy is so bad but that’s just how it is. Fandom is a luxury, too bad, you just have to accept it and if you can’t afford it then you can’t.” I was also told: “this whole discussion just reeks of someone who is bitter that they can’t afford fandom.”
The whole post is VERY worth reading, for all of us.
xpost: https://trobadora.dreamwidth.org/1124339.html |
comment(s) @ DW
shipperslist, a post by
in_seclusion: that currency thread
In the US, $20 is a good meal, or a book, or 2 hours' wage in some states (bless cities or states with $15/hr).
Here, $20 is my grocery bill for two weeks. It is my transport/commute budget for 5 days, or my food budget for 5-10 days. It is 1-2 days' worth of wages. It's a lot of money.
I don't think people recognize just how big the disparity is. So when people say things are only $20, or even only $10, ah, it's not really an only. Not for a lot of us who earn outside of those currencies.
The other thing is, for us who live outside the US, EU, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, or the like-- we aren't considered major markets, and so some things come to us much slower. That is if they ever come to us at all. There's often a high chance that it will never come to us, no matter how much we ask, because we're not a market consideration.
This started out as a twitter thread, and some of the replies they got are appalling:
I had people telling me in the replies “if you can’t afford to be in fandom, then you don’t belong here.” I was also told: “It sucks that your country’s economy is so bad but that’s just how it is. Fandom is a luxury, too bad, you just have to accept it and if you can’t afford it then you can’t.” I was also told: “this whole discussion just reeks of someone who is bitter that they can’t afford fandom.”
The whole post is VERY worth reading, for all of us.
xpost: https://trobadora.dreamwidth.org/1124339.html |
comment(s) @ DW