The roots of charity: How Gendered Racialization Shapes Crowdfunding for Women and Girls Murdered by Gun Violence

Abstract

The financial fallout of American gun violence profoundly impacts both victims and survivors. While employers, insurance companies, and victim compensation programs provide some support for navigating this fallout, many look to private channels—such as crowdfunding—to supplement these often-inadequate resources. We ask: How do those seeking material support on behalf of murdered women and girls assert worthiness and frame claims for restitution in the aftermath of gun violence? On whose behalf is material support requested, and what kinds of support are solicited? Using scholarship on digital sharing economies and the literature on gendered racialization to understand how broader systems of social inequality shape who seeks support and how, we examine GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns in California and Florida from 2016 through 2018. We find that gendered-racialized strategies of solicitation in campaigns shape how victims are presented as deserving of support. This reinforces a distorted vision of gun violence, with campaigns emphasizing white women and girls as victims through calls for public grief, whereas campaigns for Black and Latinx women and girls frame loss as private trouble.