Very proud to say that, thanks to the generosity of every single one of our patrons, after just 35 days we have met our second Patreon goal of $600 in pledges per month! This is a quarter of the way to being sustainable at a minimum level, where all writing, editing and running costs are paid for. That’s fantastic progress for just over a month, and if you read our one month anniversary update you’ll be able to see some of the lessons we’ve learned and some of our plans for the future.
Most important for you, however, is that meeting the $600 milestone has guaranteed four posts per week, effective immediately.
In the Patreon we’ve broken that down as one commentary piece on airing anime, one link round-up and two features, but the make-up of these posts may change week to week depending on what the team can provide. As great an achievement as it is, $600 per month comes down to around $20 a day, so AniFem will be run by volunteers for a while longer and must fit this work in around their schedules.
Talk
However, you can help us. Every Monday we’re going to put up an AniFemTalk post, where we ask for your input.
- What feminist observations do you want to share on an anime or manga you’re enjoying right now?
- Did something happen in a legal simulcast that you think AniFem readers should be aware of?
- Is there a legally accessible manga raising points you think AniFem readers would find interesting?
- Does a recent Japanese pop culture news item merit a feminist discussion?
- Did a conversation come up elsewhere that you’d like to know other feminists’ opinions on?
- Have you got a link to a blog post you think AniFem readers would appreciate?
Self-promotion on these posts is permitted and even encouraged, especially if you are analysing anime, manga, Japanese pop culture or fandom from a marginalised perspective! Please only include one link per post, but you can put up a different link every Monday if you like.
If you’re happy to disclose your identity in your comment, please do so – we will prioritise reading posts by people who typically aren’t given a platform, so it’s helpful to know both if you fall into that category and if you don’t. We will be looking to promote posts in a regular link round-up, so if you’re not comfortable with that level of attention please state this in your comment.
Moderation
We are of course moderating our threads, and intend to keep this a safe space. Please read our comments policy for more details, but essentially we’re not going to allow our comments sections to be derailed by debates about the meaning of the phrase ‘safe space’ or accusations of bigotry for wanting a place to talk without microaggressions or dogpiling. As a private site with no commercial ties and feminist principles front and centre, we have more freedom to do this than other anime forums.
We hope this will give our readers the confidence and peace of mind to be able to hold proper conversations with each other, to start building up a network and a community of like-minded fans in our corner of fandom. Nothing is off-topic on Talk posts, but if you can make a contribution like one of the bullet points above before going on to talk about other things we’d really appreciate it! So go ahead, scroll down to the comments and tell us what’s on your mind in Japanese pop culture and feminism this week.
Not sure where to start? Some questions to kick-start conversation:
- What are you still watching in this season of simulcasts and why?
- Which simulpubbed manga are you keeping up with and why?
- Which marginalised anibloggers/podcasters/YouTubers do you recommend?
- Now we’re publishing four posts a week, what sort of content do you most want to see from us?
- Which older manga or anime do you most want to see us talk about?
- Which elements of Japanese pop culture other than anime or manga do you want to hear more about?
Comments are open! Please read our comments policy before joining the conversation and contact us if you have any problems.