Massive trigger warnings about domestic violence (described and photographed), rape, rape apologism, entitlement culture, police

I've written before on crowdfunding's betrayal of sex workers, and how ridiculous their rules are that they ban sex workers entirely, whether they're crowdfunding adult work or medical expenses.

There's been a lot of press about MMA fighter War Machine's near-fatal abuse of his ex girlfriend Christy Mack earlier this week. While some of the commentary has been the expected sex worker bashing, "but we don't KNOW he did it!" type apologist bullshit, there's also been some very thoughtful articles. The cops apparently hung up on 911 calls the night of the attack, and called her injuries non life threatening at first, which doesn't surprise me but underlines how little the cops care about domestic violence or sex workers. Still, I'm glad to see that Christy Mack is being supported by a good number of people, who have compassion for what it's like to live in an abusive relationship, are horrified by the way he spoke about her, and don't think that her being a porn performer should be reason for her to be assaulted.

I certainly understand how horrifying intimate partner violence can be, and how hard it is to leave. This is fucking personal.

There's another piece coming on Consent Culture about domestic violence and MMA, but I want to address something that became starkly clear when it came to the aftermath of Jon Koppenhaver's arrest. And that's the messed up ethics of crowdfunding.

As I've discussed before, sex workers have regularly had their attempts to crowdfund medical care, travel, and other things shut down because they're sex workers, or have ever been sex workers. The purposefully vague language of the terms of service for many of these companies means they can determine what's "too adult" seemingly on a whim. I'm glad to see Christy Mack hasn't had her medical fundraiser challenged due to her profession, as Eden Alexander did, and I hope that crowdfunding has made a decision to stop penalizing sex workers for their jobs.

What sickens me, however, is that a fundraiser for War Machine, a.k.a. Jon Koppenhaver, is remaining up despite multiple challenges. Two other fundraisers that purported to be raising money for War Machine's defense were shut down, with GiveForward offering an *apology* and advice:

Of course, War Machine's supporters took this as complicity with their goal of raising money for a serial abuser, who had "joked" about murdering Christy Mack before.

And it is, which is why I will not be using GiveForward in the future, and encourage you to make the same choice.

When they took the fundraiser for his legal defense down (it's now back, stating money raised is for "mental health funding"), Giveforward emailed me as well, by the way, and their tune with me was very different:

Obviously, I find the disparity in the emails to be pretty concerning and to not give me a lot of faith that they are, in fact, seeking to "empower compassion".

Just to remind you of Christy Mack's injuries, here is her statement, the police report, and the images she tweeted:

Both have said they had broken up in May at various times, though as is often the case with abusive relationships, codependency also seems to have been keeping them together after. His excuse for beating her, one that people men like Chuck Zito of "Sons of Anarchy" fame seems to agree with, is that she was cheating on him- not that it's an excuse, but it doesn't even seem to be true.

Here's some statistics around "crimes of passion", and how often the people who abuse women are their partners. (Also please please please, if you need support around these issues, check out the Consent Culture resource list).

The man who did this, who *is under arrest for doing it after being labeled a fugitive*, who has practically admitted to doing it (I mean, "she's my property and always will be"?!?), *is crowdfunding* and this is totally ok with GiveForward. I mean FFS they could shut it down simply because he's been a porn performer in the past, if they wanted a way to get out of it and still be consistent... but I guess that's only an issue if you're a women.

But hey, you know, if supporting *near* murderers isn't your thing and you'd rather support a proper murderer, never fear! You can support Darren Wilson, the cop who murdered a black teen in cold blood and kicked off a week's worth of (frankly justified) riots in Ferguson, Missouri. Residents are under curfew, and feel like they're under house arrest (because they are). Tear gas is being used frequently and without restraint. The National Guard has been sent, which is going to make things even worse.

Well, the cop who felt murdering a black kid was a-ok has a fundraiser at $17,000+ on GoFundMe, and this isn't even the fundraising effort started by the KKK! I guess GoFundMe isn't worried about picking sides in legal situations the way GiveForward is.

It doesn't surprise me at all that many of the people donating to Wilson's fund are also cops. In case you questioned whether or not all cops are bastards, the fact this fundraiser is so heavily populated by them and that cops haven't been condemning this behaviour should tell you all you need to know.

To underline: Darren Wilson murdered a black teenage boy, who was unarmed and facing away from him, and he's on *paid leave*, and ALSO now getting $17,000 and counting.

GoFundMe is enabling *paying* this murderous cop for killing a black kid. This is the state of racism in the US right now.

Don't ever, ever fucking tell me we're post race and you don't see colour.

I like to think that crowdfunding can be revolutionary. But it's important to remember that these tools can also be wielded by the oppressor. Such is often the way in capitalism.

Next time you need to raise some money, may I suggest Tilt instead?