Piss off "poverty porn"

So, it’s been a while since this charity chick has blogged. Not very good is it? We’ve been very busy at work – year end, numbers, results, saving and changing lives. You know the score eh?

Then I read this article on the BBC website.

I reacted instantly. Incredulity, anger, disbelief, horror, fury. They were the initial responses. I hoped that after a while I thought I might feel less about it, or care less. So I read it again today after Christmas to see if my feelings had changed.

If anything, they are stronger. After a fortnight of gluttony, family, love, friendship and a roof over my head – all those things I am lucky to have – I actually find this article more offensive than ever.

As a fundraiser I am proud of what I do. And I’m proud of the way in which I do it. If I need to shock people into giving I will. If they feel guilty about this – that’s their problem. This is the all too real situation in which the people we work with are living in.

Certainly in my experience, it tends to be the white middle-class people working remotely who have an issue with ‘poverty shock advertising.’ They want to portray people with ‘dignity’ and consign this imagery to the dustbin. They bandy about the phrase ‘poverty porn,’ and try and make fundraiser’s feel the same guilt they do.

But when I speak to my colleagues who work in country, and who are from that country, they tell me; “This image is fine. It’s what it’s like out here. That’s what our children look like in this area.” They send me images like this to use. 

So I do. And they say ‘thank you’ when we raise the money that means that less children will face this horrible situation.

For me, what I’d like to see consigned to the history books, right alongside this article, is this patronising attitude that only serves to denigrate the profession that I am proud to be in. 

(The initial blog post contained swear words, and a less measured response. I’m still f*****g fuming).

Danielle Atkinson
@roxymartinique