TRAUMA IS NOT A COMMODITY
My submission to the Manifesto Jam 2026 made in Decker using the Hybrid Zine Decker template by Millie Squilly. Use arrow keys to turn the pages.
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My submission to the Manifesto Jam 2026 made in Decker using the Hybrid Zine Decker template by Millie Squilly. Use arrow keys to turn the pages.
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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Fantastic
dang last page hits hard, love it!
this resonates with me even though i don't really have any trauma. the modern internet kinda makes me feel somehow deficient or unworthy because i don't have enough trauma, which in turn makes me feel like a horrible person for being selfish enough to romanticize something so awful. dunno where i was going with this, it's just how i feel i guess. good work, good message
Y E S
Thank you for reading!! 💜
Very well said!! I love the execution here too
Oh my gosh, thank you so much Mike for reading and commenting!! I also really loved A DAD IS NOT A GUN, it needs to be shouted from the rooftops haha
My longtime project deals with my trauma, insecurities and fears. The story is nice and strange and even if it has helped figure out a few things about myself, I sort of have connected my creativity to my trauma, which has influenced me to not spend much attention to other projects I make bc they aren't relatable on a dark level to me. But my interests has always lied mostly in the mystery genre and my other projects are more light-hearted or not as deep/symbolic/special to me. Anyways the manifesto is just what i needed to read bc i am doing this all for myself bc i don't even know who will read the project i am making
Thank you so much for reading and for your kind comment 💜💜💜 I totally know what you mean, and I am glad that this resonated with you. Definitely continuing working on your longtime project for yourself first and foremost, that is for you and not for the edification of others!!
love this ! there's very much a pressure or expectation in some spaces that people must make themselves and their experiences into marketable and palatable life lessons or "entertaining" trauma stories, but human experience isn't meant to be endlessly simplified and made intelligible and entertaining for consumption. loved the last line especially. thank you for writing and sharing this!
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for reading and for these very kind words 💜💜💜 This made me so happy to read hahaha
I understand what you mean, but you can't stop me, I can't read. ;)
In seriousness, I think this is definitely is definitely something to consider and always to keep in mind when trying to express something that's brought you pain. Only whore yourself out for yourself.
Yeah, like obviously trauma-informed art can be enlightening for both artist and viewer, but like, idk, the way we use each other up like resources is so gross, y'know?
yes!!!
Thank you for reading 💜
so much said in so few words. i had not considered this--not put it quite into coherent words. thank you for this.
RUINS oh my god thank you for reading and commenting 💜💜💜 Means a lot to me!!
Honestly, yeah. I hadn’t even stopped to consider this was a thing.
This manifesto blew my mind.
Honestly this helped put into words an uneasiness I have felt in queer indie circles etc.
It's always worth asking yourself why and how you are depicting suffering, and to what purpose.
+ the point abt not treating ur experiences as a resource to be mined. so true.
Thank you so much for reading and for your kind words 💜 Vulnerable, neurodivergent queer artists were exactly the people I had in mind when writing this. I want a better world for them.
> However, there is a certain victim-blamingness to the manifesto, as it's not the author's fault the ghouls are drooling for "more content" 24/7
This is a manifesto about not giving it to them, obviously, lol