I don’t know how to feel. Very conflicted, currently. Nakamura tackles the plight of “volunteer community managers” (1), who deal with some intense backlash in addition to unpaid labor. The author doesn’t really offer a solution, but that’s understandable considering it’s a rather short article. The volunteers fight back against misogyny, racism, and other forms of prejudice, and are often comprised of marginalized peoples fighting for their own rights. However, they often come under fire for trying to dictate what other people say, and have been accused of being sexist, “pc”, and in favor of censorship (6). As Nakamura states, this is a form of “unwanted labor” to many people (6), or a labor that is trivialized and hated by many others in the community. I don’t know the ins and outs of social media economies, but I was certain that at least some platforms do offer an income through ad revenue. Even with places like Tumblr, which I have experienced and can confirm ad revenue isn’t really a thing, you can link to a Ko-fi or a Patreon, which allow your fans to give you money directly. It’s actually reminiscent of a job of an artist or creative writer. That being said, that income is incredibly unstable, but then, so is the income of many creative people. I think I’d have to do more research to fully understand the issue here. Is it the abuse? The hours spent? The fact that the platforms are profiting off of them? Are these the reasons they should be acknowledged as a work force? Nakamura seems more focused on the way these workers are affecting the economy right now rather than a call to action. The article seems to intend to inform. One thing that had initially confused me was the concept of reproductive labor, simply because it hadn’t been defined. I looked it up and apparently reproductive labor just refers to “unpaid activities that reproduce the workforce” (Exploring Economics). I suppose the thing reproductive labor and the these feminists have in common is the idea of the labor being unpaid and feminized (3). On top of that, both are also undervalued. Perhaps that’s Nakamura’s goal: To have people value this workforce more? I am of the opinion that call out culture can get pretty toxic itself, and a lot of people tend to spread misinformation to further their cause, but it’s also held a lot of horrible people accountable for their actions. I’m not sure if posting a twitter thread is such hard work, but I do think a lot of youtubers and certain bloggers put a lot of effort and research into their contributions. I also think it’s a lot easier for them to be compensated with the rise of platforms like Patreon and Ko-fi. I’m not sure when this article was written, but I’m guessing by the use of certain hashtags, it was around 2013-15. Patreon and Ko-fi would’ve been founded by then but I’m not sure if they were very popular at the time. In any case, it’s been 5-7 years and a lot of things have changed in that time. I’m rambling now so I’ll stop. The purpose was a bit confusing but the ideas were well realized. I just don’t know many people who are volunteer community managers full-time? At least not in the case of Tumblr or Twitter. Youtube, Instagram, etc. are a bit different.
“Reproductive Labour and Care.” Exploring Economics, http://www.exploring-economics.org/en/discover/reproductive-labour-and-care/.
Writing and Money 