Fellow drummer (and colleague) in the anti-poverty porn messaging brigade, Lina Srivastava has a piece on the aforementioned topic for GOOD Magazine. In a word, it’s… good! Go read it and tell me it doesn’t challenge your pre-concieved notion of development messaging.
So in today’s social impact landscape, what is poverty porn? It could be: Photos of rape victims in the Congo used to raise funds in annual reports. Images of squatting South Asian women looking up at Western aid workers. The “bad black man” trope reinforcing the “savior complex.” Short films featuring emaciated children lying in the rubble after Haiti’s earthquake. “Darfur for Dummies.” Celebrities, DIY activists, or NGO marketing departments creating photo opportunities with children swarming at their knees, saying the experience has changed their own lives. Initiatives that seek donations of used underwear to send to Africa. “Clitor-aid.”
via Poverty Porn and A New Way to Regard Social Impact | Living on GOOD.
