#like the reason i'm talking about this whole produce/consumer mindset stuff isn't to point fingers at anyone

[rollercoasterwords]

I agree with it all, about the Content problem in fanfic. Besides the example of the Jegulus Strike. People aren't striking because they want more comments or better reviews. They strike because people abuse them because of the art they want to make as they see fit. Because they are tired of being sent death threads and likes. So rather, the strike can be seen as a reaction to the contentification and the aggressive demand for tailor-made fics that don't cause the slightest bit of unease.

totally get that, and that's why i think it was well-intentioned! i'm gonna try to be like...as clear as i possibly can be about why i included it as an interesting example of the sort of internalized producer/consumer culture that we're all being conditioned to use as our framework for interacting w media.

the reason i included the strike as an example of that culture was because it was the same framework, i think, manifesting in a different way. i understood that the impulse behind it was to say "hey!! you guys are treating us badly!! stop it!!" and i don't think any of the people involved were focused on comments or reviews or anything--like, i get that the intention was to try and stand up to harassment.

but to call it a strike is to frame that action within a producer/consumer economy, because a strike positions certain people--in this case, fanfic writers--as laborers and producers, working at the behest of other people--in this case, fanfic readers. that premise already doesn't really work with fanfic, because readers are writers and writers are readers, so there's not a super clear delineation between who is producing and consuming the "product". but a strike places those lines in the sand, and in doing so it reinforces the idea that there are distinct producers and consumers, and that fanfiction is a product for consumption. otherwise, why would it hurt to withhold that product from consumers?

and like, that's what i mean when i say that we are all being conditioned to think this way about media, and if we aren't careful it's really easy to just internalize this producer/consumer culture. because my impression of the strike is that it was sort of a response to the negative side of this consumer culture that was still working within the framework of that consumer culture. like, i saw people saying: hey!! you're treating our stories like a product for YOUR consumption, and that's bad! so we will be withholding those products from your consumption!! and like....that action only works in that context if we're all agreeing that fanfiction is a product for consumption, because striking is inherently tied to a consumer economy. so while well-intentioned, it still falls into the trap of reinforcing this dichotomy between producers/consumers, with fanfiction as the product in the middle. does that make sense?

and like, while most of the stuff i saw about the strike was people trying to draw attention to harassment, i definitely saw some stuff that was very deeply rooted in this producer/consumer mindset. like, i saw a few posts saying things along the lines of "if you DON'T participate in this strike, you DON'T care about your community," and to me that just seemed a little silly, because with fanfiction your readers are supposed to be your community. like...do you get what i'm saying? if you're truly viewing your readers as a community, and not a consumer audience, then who does it benefit to "withhold" the product/labor/etc? and i understand that the issue was that writers were getting a bunch of readers who were treating themselves like a consumer audience and interacting with the fic that way, but like. if the issue is that someone is approaching you like a consumer, responding in a way that reinforces their position as a consumer isn't necessarily going to address the root of the issue, y'know?

anyway, that's why i included the strike in my discussion about Content and producer/consumer mentality--because most of my examples were coming from the end of people treating their fics like products in like...a positive way? like, falling into the trap of consumer culture in a way that sort of embraces it. but the strike, to me, was an example on the opposite end of the spectrum, of trying to push back against the negative impact of that consumer culture without digging all the way down to the consumer culture itself. like...one end of the spectrum is sitting contentedly in the trap, and the other is struggling in the trap, but they are both still very much stuck within the trap. hopefully that makes sense!