Collaboration . . .
So much of the work I have been putting into this is invisible. Since I have already been in the childfree internet community for some time, I am generally aware of what is out there on the internet. Mostly, it is a lot of discussion boards and a few personal blogs. However, a few sites have stood out (as mentioned below) and I asked their creators to participate.
Originally, this request was aimed at getting better content on my website. There have been unexpected, but happy results.
1. Disagreement. I knew that a lot of parents would be opposed to the idea of extending additional benefits to childfree people, feeling that since they are working very hard and making a contribution to society, they deserve extra help. What I did not anticipate is that childfree people would also be opposed to the project. Therefore, I could not possibly have expected and addressed heir concerns. The first participant, the creator of Purple Women, submitted an opposition essay, which I promptly placed above my own essay written from the perspective of the other side for the earlier class assignment.
I was then able to counter or address (and concede) her points – therefore strengthening my own position. Learning the perspective of your opponents does more than allow you to seem sympathetic and to get their attention, it cal also help you see what in your own side may be going unsaid. It made it clear to me that I need to narrow my aim a bit. I redid the entire project with an eye toward emphasising the voluntary aspect of the project. Specifically, the idea that it might make childfree employees less attractive necessitates this approach. A voluntary plan (rather than putting heavy pressure on companies) would mean the only companies affected were those who are already actively trying to recruit childless employees.
2. Promotion. The creator of the childfree podcast asked if she wanted me to do her show next week on the topic! Getting collaborators means that more people will have a more personal investment in the project, and therefore are more likely to promote it. By targeting those who run popular sites, the people promoting my project are now the people who have the ability to drive more traffic to it.
3. Editing. A third collaborator is an editor and writer- a published one! I failed to anticipate that it was her editing skills that would be brought to bear, but indeed they have.
4. A Different Focus. Lastly, i asked the founder of No Kidding! to contribute. He was able to write a piece incorporating the experiences of many different people, since he has spent 25 years getting e-mails from childfree people about their experiences. His focus was less on benefits and more on the workplace generally, which was just great. I hadn’t thought to include a portion about it, but it is a great companion to the project, especially since I am often mentioning that hard-to-change cultural differences make even official benefits all the more important.
I have a week left, and am still waiting to see what others might do to contribute. I am starting to use my other media – my blog and website – to drive traffic to the project. Hopefully, comments will star building on the blog and the project – both the immediate benefits project and the larger advocacy project – will grow.