New post and update! Rape culture in shojo romance (Patreon)

Well, this was supposed to be a quick post summarising some of the insightful points our commenters raised in last week's AniFemTalk... and turned into a 3200-word monster pulling out the phrase "rape culture" for what is probably the first time on Anime Feminist. Soon we will be using words like "patriarchy", "misogyny" and "privilege" and really risk the wrath of the trolls! 

We announced last week that we will be paying all writers in 2017, and one of the advantages of this is that it frees Amelia up to commission content like this rather than creating it. This means that a post like this running over won't lead to a knock-on effect delaying posts like Links or AniFemTalk, as there was this week when this post took on a life of its own and turned out to need more attention and substance than expected. 

You all know we're a rapidly-growing operation and we are always transparent with you about our learning experiences as well as our successes. This past week we have got almost entirely on top of our contributor submissions, set up a robust editorial process and begun to fill our content pipeline. In the next day or two we will put up a detailed post on what we are looking for in contributors, how to submit pitches and what process people can expect.This should fill our content pipeline completely, as people have been keen to write for AniFem since the start, but most will want to write posts for January publication so they will be paid. 

Until then we are still dependent on the kindness of strangers plus homegrown content. Where there is a shortfall in the next few weeks one of the team (who are still not being paid) must step in. This shouldn't actually be a problem; the team have stepped up and offered various post types, plus we have some exciting announcements to make over the next few weeks which will result in some posts. This past weekend we hit a bit of a crunch point, but we are currently overhauling our system to ensure that more posts are scheduled in advance and have accepted enough pitches that the next few weeks should not see this problem repeat.

By January, AniFem is going to be a much smoother, more professional and consistent publication. We're trying to get all our teething troubles out of the way now so that you all feel that your money is going to an organisation that deserves it - the kind that pays its writers as a matter of priority and isn't afraid to use phrases like "rape culture" in anime fandom. 

Thank you as always for all your support! It is thanks to your generosity and commitment that we are able to pay every single writer next year. We haven't been prouder of anything since we started this project, and hope for many more such moments in 2017.