In terms of funding, an established social world (such as traditional journalism) usually has the means to maintain its working structure. A new world, on the other hand, on breaking away from its world of origin, usually needs to formulate its subsistence strategies, considering the difficulties of being a space that is probably less known and recognized than the previously existing groups with which it dialogues, and with often limited resources (Becker, 1982).

In these situations, teams need to put extra effort into obtaining material resources. Instead of dedicating themselves to doing the end activity, a group of actors needs to spend time and energy making or obtaining materials to make the activity possible. Feminist media activists have to dedicate part of their teams to developing fundraising strategies to sustain their projects. These people are partly or wholly committed to obtaining funding and other ways of economically sustaining their publications, to the detriment of producing content. But despite the constraints caused by the monetary economy, the lack of money is not fatal to the existence of derivations of social worlds.

The financial experience of feminist media activists is usually linked to three categories of representations: (a) the feeling that the profession of journalist is suffering from generalized precariousness — which is not, therefore, a scenario that only affects the world of media activism; (b) the feeling of luck and gratitude for being part of an engaged media environment capable of offering them a set of labor rights; and/or (c) the critical perception of the emotional cost of embarking on media activism careers. How each actor fits into this categorization varies, with some individuals describing that they identify with more than one of these dimensions.

As with the media activists interviewed by Ferron (2016), when the author observes the world of free media, there are recurring reports of precariousness and instability in careers in the speeches of the people interviewed, especially journalists. There is, however, the difference that some of these projects (AzMina, Madmoizelle, and Think Olga) seem to have managed to establish internal management dynamics that allow them to provide employees with situations of stability and/or income that they cannot find in other sectors of journalism.

In general, media activists who are paid by feminist media outlets usually point out that they earn a fair amount for the work they do. They point out that, unlike in other environments where they have worked, they are currently in positions where they do not feel financially exploited. These interviewees reinforce the satisfaction that being part of these publications gives them in terms of working conditions. Sophie (interview, September 1, 2022), who is responsible for brand content at Madmoizelle, mentions that, from a financial perspective, she considers herself lucky to have a fixed-term contract.

Anthony and Océane, members of the same publication, also emphasize their sense of relief at the possibility of having a permanent position at the magazine. According to Océane, even though the salary isn't high, the publication has a habit of quickly hiring people on indefinite contracts: "the good thing is that, unlike many media, the contracts are stable. The magazine hires people on permanent contracts very quickly, and having a permanent contract when you're a journalist is very rare" (Océane, Madmoizelle journalist, interview, September 2, 2022).

Since these actors are part of a professional logic in which journalists often work as freelancers (Ferron, 2016), the media offering the possibility of fixed positions in their newsrooms gives the team some level of security and comfort. Anthony (Madmoizelle, interview, July 20, 2022) admits that although freelance life is more dynamic, having a fixed position in a newsroom is, according to him, more comfortable. It was this feeling of tranquillity that made the fashion reporter, who worked as a freelancer in different media from 2017 to 2021, relieved to be approached by Madmoizelle to join the magazine's team permanently.

There are professional circumstances and structures linked to the configuration of the labor market in journalism that interfere with how contributors to engaged publications relate to their careers as media activists — I am paying particular attention to the interviewees who come from the journalistic world since these reports tended to highlight the profession's salary dynamics more often. In the two countries studied it can be seen that, although smaller, engaged media tend to pay less, the general perception of the actors in the social world studied is that larger media also pay poorly and, therefore, the interviewees believe that it is more worthwhile, from the point of view of professional satisfaction, to work in line with a cause they believe in (feminism, anti-racism and/or LGBTI+ rights).

The status of the journalism profession in the country of work and labor legislation are also factors that influence how the interviewees relate to their career choices. Megan (Les Glorieuses, interview, July 22, 2022), who is a British-Australian journalist who has chosen to live in France, reports that, at the newsletter where she works three times a week, she is faced with the best working conditions she has ever had in her life. However, the freelance routine, which she still must maintain, remains difficult and exhausting:

they're probably the best working conditions I've ever had. And I think one of the things about not being French and coming to France to work is that the working conditions are very protected, they're better than in London, where I was before, where there was certainly a huge overwork, and in Australia, where I worked long hours. So that's the good, manageable side. The freelance side is terrible. It's working weekends, evenings, all of that.

In Brazil, it was found that although the legislative gaps surrounding the non-regulation of the profession of journalist weaken the category in general, in the context of engaged media, situations were observed that are the opposite of the French reality, with media-activist publications paying better salaries and guaranteeing their teams better working conditions than traditional media. Marília (interview, August 18, 2021), the current operational and technology director of AzMina magazine, says that she used to be a reporter for renowned newspapers in the hegemonic media of Salvador (Bahia), covering mainly culture, but also politics and cities. However, she was poorly paid, earning just over one Brazilian minimum wage[6] — which, in August 2023, is equivalent to R$1,320 or €243.31.

According to the journalist, joining AzMina was a milestone that "transformed the family nucleus" (Marília, interview, August 18, 2021), because it is the best-paid job she has ever had. From the moment she joined the magazine, even though it is still not a job that fully guarantees her labor rights — she is an individual micro-entrepreneur[7], a way of hiring collaborators in which labor guarantees are reduced and there is no formal contract, a situation that the publication is still looking for the financial means to reverse — the journalist now has a salary that she calls decent.

AzMina has something very symbolic. As soon as I joined, at the end of last year, they told us that we would get a massage session. All you had to do was ask for a refund. It would be an end-of-year present. It was the first time I'd ever had a massage. I thought: "I'll pay for my mother and sister too. I'll give this as a Christmas present. It'll be a massage session for the three of us". It was my mother's first time too, and she's 57. She was very moved and said: "I've never been touched like this". My mother was a woman who had always worked, all her life. She's a nurse, she also graduated from the Federal University of Bahia. She's a woman who's about to retire, but with unemployment in her 50s, she hasn't completed her time of service. She worked all her life, lived for her family, and had her own money. She didn't have underemployment. They were higher-level jobs. But she had never been able to afford this, due to a series of structural issues too, including where this money goes, and what you work for. You work to grow up, for your family, to serve your home, and to look after yourself, at most, to do your nails, to do your hair, to look presentable for work. But not for you. So AzMina's experience was metaphorical, of how a job can trigger so many other things in a person's life. And I'm talking about something symbolic, without even thinking about income, about supporting the household. I support my household. I'm much better paid than any other job I'd have here in Salvador. (Marília, interview, August 18, 2021)

The salary advantages that media activist publications can offer compared to other media activities in Brazil, however, do not eliminate the interviewees' feelings of discomfort regarding the lack of career stability linked to the country's political and economic instability. Even so, in general, in both countries, alternative media journalists, once confronted with economic and organizational mechanisms, seek to base their professionalization on a structure that is convergent with their political principles (Hubé, 2010). Despite the financial costs, the choice of media activism tends to be worthwhile for most of the people interviewed, due to the personal satisfaction that militant action and collective action bring to the group's routine.

In short, the experiences of media activists reinforce the idea that journalism follows the business logic of a utilitarian press, marked by the demands of economic activity (Neveu, 2019), while engaged media try to break free from these ties. The leadership and support staff of the publications, however, end up recognizing that their content is impacted by the competitive context and by economic contingents related to the institutions as media companies (Le Champion, 2015). From the cases of abandonment of the social world studied, it can also be seen that the personal satisfaction and collective belonging found in feminist activist action, while acting as driving forces for engagement, are limited by financial issues and the increasing precariousness of the profession. Media activists try to balance salary expectations, professional investment, and militant desire, in efforts that usually generate more satisfaction than disappointment for the interviewees.

The methodology of this research implies the risk that, as people who still work in the media studied and depend on them to receive their salaries at the end of the month, some of the interviewees were simply not comfortable enough to mention, in an academic interview, constraints in terms of remuneration that they experience or have experienced within the social world. On the other hand, people who had already left these spaces spoke more openly about their perceptions of the employment and financial relationship they had with publications, such as journalist Océane (Madmoizelle) and anthropologist Bárbara (Think Olga).

Océane, who worked as a multimedia journalist at Madmoizelle and gave me an interview at a time when she no longer had a job with the magazine (on September 2, 2022), considers that she was underpaid and lists some problems linked to the financial aspects of her work in the media. She says that, as her salary was low and the cost of living in Paris was quite high, she ended up having to move away. The young woman believes that paying employees less was a choice made by the publication, which, from her point of view, had the organizational and economic conditions that would allow it to make efforts to grant its staff higher and, according to the interviewee, fairer salaries.

I received a minimum wage. That's not enough to live on with a child, for example. It's complicated to live properly on minimum wage if you must have an apartment in Paris. I couldn't afford a place to live in the city, which meant I had to travel 3 hours a day, and that made things complicated. Yes, because not only was the work demanding, but I also didn't have a quality of life that allowed me to rest properly outside of work. (Océane, interview, September 2, 2022)

The concept of precariousness in journalism is a constant in the speeches of the interviewees. This precariousness is reflected in the professional trajectory of a portion of the group, leading some of the members to do more than one job or to combine media activism with their “day job” (Becker, 1982) — which pays them and guarantees their livelihoods. For those who have more than one job, tiredness appears in the emotional speeches of these interviewees interspersed with a sense of conformism, of reaffirmation of the stereotype of the multifunctional journalist, at the same time as they reveal that they are aware of the market dynamics linked to neoliberalism that require them to accumulate functions to support themselves.

Amanda, AzMina’s sports columnist — a volunteer position she holds alongside her work as a fact-checker for the satirical journalism program Greg News and as a writer for the podcast Revista Maré — says that “journalists always have several professions, several jobs” (interview, August 27, 2021). The same perception appears in the speeches of other media activists, regardless of the country, nationality, or place of work of the professional.

Megan (Les Glorieuses, interview, July 22, 2022), for example, who was a reporter and still freelances for British, Australian, American, and French publications, points out that “journalism is not a financially smart choice”. The interviewee insists on this statement when she reveals that her husband is also a journalist, which she considers to be doubly bad for the family’s health since they are both pursuing a career marked by precariousness.

My partner is also a journalist, so that’s a doubly bad option. Deciding to work exclusively on feminist journalism has affected my salary greatly. I could be earning much more if I was doing any other type of journalism. Freelance rates are terrible anyway, so the freelancing side does not pay well and many journalists supplement their reporting with content writing or anything like that. I don’t do that. I only do reporting, which is very poorly paid. Okay, but it’s three days a week. And, you know, the social charges in France are very high. So, no, financially, this is not a good career path for me, but I make enough to continue. (Megan, interview, July 22, 2022)

The salary factor and the stress generated by maintaining personal and family finances, as well as the excessive workload, lead a proportion of media activists — around 10% of those interviewed — to give up the profession. This is what happened, for example, with Marguerite (Georgette Sand). She chose to leave journalism because of the insecurity and instability she faced in her career. But she hasn't stopped working hard. She became a community manager and aims to create a feminist education company. To support herself financially, she works in the communications department of a company dedicated to social engagement activities which develops actions aimed at solving the problem of menstrual precariousness.

Some of the feminist project collaborators interviewed — 16 people — carry out paid activities and volunteer work for engaged publications in parallel. Most of the volunteer media activists (12 of them) are journalists, and they work for other engaged media, hegemonic media — where they seek to cover gender issues — or work in the communications field as press officers. They keep volunteering because activism gives them personal satisfaction and professional recognition, as they gain visibility in the media by being part of feminist project teams. This group tends to maintain discourses that mix feelings of guilt and shame due to the feeling that they don't do enough for feminist publishing. They report that they wish they had more time to contribute more regularly to the production of content, but the routine of reconciling voluntary activity with other work doesn't allow them to write as much as they would like.

I'm ashamed to say it, I haven't written for AzMina in seven months. I'm finding it very difficult. I think it's very sad for me. I blame myself a lot. I'm ashamed! ( ... ) But it's down to my schedule that I haven't found the time to write. (Amanda, AzMina columnist, interview, August 27, 2021)

Although the financial factor runs through their routines and speeches, media activists seem reluctant to admit, sometimes even to themselves, the relevance of this element in their lives. Such attitudes reinforce the stereotype that activism should be an activity motivated essentially by passion — with no remunerative returns (Souza, 2016). That's why Bárbara (Think Olga, interview, July 30, 2021), who worked as an administrative assistant at Think Olga, was somewhat surprisingly honest about what gave her the most satisfaction at work: "in every job, at the end of the day, what we want to see is a paycheck. Working with a cause is no different. It's a job, like any other".

If, on the one hand, actors in the social world analyzed are looking for alternatives to conventional logics of professional activity — whether in journalism or in other areas — in which professionals are encouraged to work without allowing themselves to feel, causing problems for the physical and mental health of the worker (Jeantet, 2021), on the other hand, being part of engaged media, even if it allows emotions to be exposed, also brings emotional and material damage — resulting from contact with sources, audiences, haters, and stories of violence against women and minority groups.

The affective expressions that appear most frequently in the interviewees' statements are a set of emotions that lead to feminist engagement or distance interviewees from it. In this way, affections explain the link with the world analyzed. Media activists tend to use anger, as a form of reaction to one or more adversities, experienced in confrontation with situations of sexism, misogyny, and gender violence, as a driving force for engagement. The experience of activism generates exhaustion — as a drive or impulse in the face of working and/or activist conditions and in the face of the limits of engaged action concerning everyday activities - and frustration — a reflex emotion that appears over time and in the face of stagnation or socio-political setbacks in the face of the agendas for gender equality and the expansion of women's rights demanded by the group.

However, feelings of pleasure tend to predominate — a state of mind that actors find through immersion in the social world, linked to the execution of the activist practice itself and especially to contact with other people whose ideals are compatible with their own — and solidarity — a reflexive emotion towards other members of the social world, whether they are media activists or members of the public. It arises from the formation of bonds and the empathy that individuals develop between themselves.

The founder of the Les Glorieuses newsletter, Rebecca (interview, September 22, 2022), is thinking of quitting writing and working on feminist issues because she is tired of living in "permanent stress", an expression she uses to describe her state of emotional health over the last few months. The desire to give up that emerges in the speeches of some team leaders is linked to their perception that engagement is a factor that weighs too heavily on their careers. The co-founder of the Georgette Sand Collective, Marguerite, who has been working voluntarily as a feminist activist for a decade, says that the time and commitment invested in this work has diverted her attention from professional possibilities that could provide her with a more financially stable life:

the problem is that activism consumed my working time, my energy, and my career. In the end, a part of my career where I could have done something else could have put my energy elsewhere, I put most of it into activism. Which is also great because activism is great. But at the same time, it consumes a large part of your life. (interview, July 27, 2022)

Tiredness — associated with feelings of annoyance, discouragement, sadness, and anguish — is an intrinsic component of the professional daily lives of the media activists interviewed, as a factor that appears linked to the activism and work routines and political actions of these women — and the two men — in the world of digital feminist media activism, but which is also related to other spaces in which they circulate, generating situations of stress and anguish for members of the publications. It should also be noted that stress is strongly associated with the routine of journalism and information production, where the pace is fast and unforeseen events are a constant in the flow of events for these professionals (Neveu, 2019). This stress even comes through in the voices of some of the interviewees, especially those who hold senior positions within the publications, such as Carolina (AzMina), Marguerite (Georgette Sand), and Rebecca (Les Glorieuses), whose social roles in the groups mean that they accumulate more tasks than the other media activists.

AzMina columnist Amanda (interview, August 27, 2021) resorts to memes and internet language references to explain that exhaustion runs through the routine of those who work in engaged journalism: "I'm a tired activist," she says, adding that she wants to buy a cap with the words "Exhausted Feminist"[8]. However, for several actors in the social world, exhaustion can lead to physical and psychological disorders. An example of this is the statement by Lado M reporter Malu (interview, July 19, 2021), who describes feeling the consequences of regularly dealing with topics related to gender violence through body aches, nervousness, stress, and frequent discouragement. The interviewees learn to manage these inconveniences and discomforts because, in general, they consider that the satisfaction caused by activist action is more rewarding than the harmful aspects of this engagement.

The dynamics of media activism and political-ideological engagement generate fatigue and self-reflection on whether or not these individuals need to be constantly involved with the issue of feminism, for example, by posting positions and analyzing current affairs related to gender on social media. Regarding her position as a digital activist and the interventions she makes on the internet, journalist Amanda (AzMina, interview, August 27, 2021) wonders to what extent activism is a practice she does for the sake of her ideals or to maintain the social role she occupies in her social circles: "is it to fulfill an image that I've already created and that I need to maintain in that environment, as a militant and feminist?".

The journalist's reflection refers to the notion of the "personal façade" (Goffman, 1999), in which actors assume expressive frameworks that characterize them and must follow them throughout their daily interactions. Applying this idea to the digital environment, profiles, posts and positions on social media become structural apparatuses in the personal and professional representation that media activists make of themselves. However, they are also a source of stress and fatigue as they demand content updates and periodic interactions with other individuals, causing interviewees to accumulate extra activities that are, at the same time, relevant to maintaining their images in front of audiences and colleagues inserted in the intersections of worlds through which the group circulates.

Immersion in the practice of digital feminist media activism, therefore, brings psychological and physical consequences associated with the emotional exhaustion generated by activist action, in which the actors challenge relations of force and power in which they often occupy positions of dominance. The fatigue is also related to the market logic that the group must adapt to maintain its publications, in terms of the search for funding and the production of content. At times of exhaustion and/or discouragement, the reaffirmation of the activist identity is called into question. The daily lives of these individuals are marked by regular reflections on the extent to which the personal and professional rewards and the satisfaction generated by the work compensate for the exhaustion that accompanies committed action.

The influences on the interviewees' professional careers caused by feminist mobilization go beyond financial gains and tend to involve the creation of contact networks and opportunities to give visibility to activists' productions and CVs. The architect and illustrator Magali (reader of Georgette Sand, interview, August 13, 2022), whose age was not mentioned, points out that she was invited by different activist groups to draw illustrations to publicize the cause and to play the accordion at feminist events. She also had the opportunity to contribute by writing articles for activist collectives, such as the publication Georgette Sand, in dynamics that allowed her to disseminate and make her artistic work visible.

In other words, professional spaces can become a tool to support the spread of gender reflections, as is the case with 46-year-old psychologist Patrícia (Think Olga reader, interview, July 8, 2022), who contributes voluntarily as a columnist for a local newspaper in the city where she lives (in southern Brazil), and seeks to use the media as a resource to raise awareness about gender inequities among readers. Patrícia also works voluntarily to provide psychological assistance to women who have experienced gender-based violence assisted by a collective of feminist lawyers.

Even so, it is financial relationships that tend to determine how contributors participate and engage with publications. Half of the media activists interviewed work for pay, which makes them regular actors or even leaders in the social world. The other half join the publications to do voluntary work, so they perform the tasks of less recurring actors within the publications.

Volunteering is concentrated in publications that do not receive regular or direct funding, such as the Lado M portal and the Georgette Sand Collective, which do not aim to monetize their projects. All the contributors to these initiatives are volunteers. The other interviewees who contribute unpaid to a feminist media outlet are the AzMina columnists — who constitute the channel's floating members. The professional relationship between this group and the magazine is based on the granting of space on the site in exchange for the creation of content — generally not regular and without deadline demands — which, although it doesn't involve financial benefits, generates prestige and visibility for both parties. AzMina's permanent staff, as well as those of the other three media outlets (Les Glorieuses, Madmoizelle,and Think Olga), are only hired on a paid basis.

How media activists participate in publications refers to new organizational arrangements for work and financial support, in which companies, associations, individual micro-entrepreneurships, and other formats make news production possible. More than just a legal form of employment relationship, these arrangements have become alternative spaces for the survival of journalistic activity and converge in the search for creative ways to carry out news production, although these organizations often do not offer paid work (Figaro & Marques, 2020).

There has been a flexibilization in the formats of professional insertion and permanence in engaged media, brought about by configurations of contemporary capitalism, linked to the expansion of the use of the internet, with loose employment ties, freelance contracts, without a formal contract or with fixed-term contracts, at the same time as there is the possibility of working remotely or hybrid and combining more than one paid activity. On the one hand, the precariousness of a journalist's career accentuates the financial fragility of the interviewees, while on the other hand, digital activism and socio-technical devices expand the possibilities of gaining visibility and professional recognition for actors in the world surveyed.

Eleven people report that they don't need to simultaneously work at a feminist publication since they are employed as full-time members of the engaged media. This group is spread across two Brazilian publications and one French one: AzMina magazine (Carolina, Marília, and Verena), except Rayana, who is also a fellow at the NGO Youth Climate Leaders, which focuses on solutions to climate crises; Madmoizelle magazine (Emilie, Mathis, Océane and Sophie), except Anthony, a fashion and culture journalist who, when he has the opportunity, still produces content as a freelancer; and the NGO Think Olga (Bárbara, Marjana and Paula), except Nana, who contributes occasionally to the magazine by investing in specific projects — but not as part of the permanent team. The other person who dedicates herself exclusively to the feminist media activism channel is Rebecca, creator of the Les Glorieuses newsletter. Megan (Les Glorieuses), although a permanent member of the newsletter, is dedicated to it three times a week and works as a freelance journalist on the other days.

In addition to Anthony (Madmoizelle), Megan (Les Glorieuses), and Rayana (AzMina), who are permanent members of their respective publications, the other people who have alternative jobs to their work as feminist media activists are the 20 interviewees who are not permanent members of the media outlets studied. Most of them are journalists (14 people), who combine more than one occupation: freelancer; regular journalist for another media outlet; communications consultant; writer; and creator of their own feminist publication. The others are professionals in other areas: teachers (school teachers and university professors) and financial auditors.

How interviewees participate in feminist publications and the new configurations of production routines within journalism are influenced by the deepening of capitalism's flexible mode of accumulation, with the concentration of large, global monopolies, the migration of advertising resources to the internet environment, the purchase of data according to new advertising logics and the role of journalism in contemporary society (Figaro & Marques, 2020) — as a practice that offers socio-cultural clippings of current events supported by socio-technical devices, commonly representing political and economic powers.

These restructurings of professional dynamics are reflected in the world studied through the insertion, modes of participation, and permanence of media activists in the social world, which are intersected by the transit of these people through other worlds — digital activism, political activism, the arts, and literature. The experience of media activism is marked by financial precariousness as opposed to the constitution of professional and cooperative networks of action, enhanced by the circulation of information through the digital space.