Indepth

Over three days, the participants discussed and debated intersections of gender, sexuality, and the internet – not only as a tool – but as a new public space. In thinking through these issues, the participants at the meeting developed a set of *15 feminist principles of the internet*. These are designed to be an evolving document that informs our work on gender and technology, as well as…

Are feminists bored with online activism? Cyber feminists’ minor politics and affirmative political approach often presents us with dynamic, thematic and changeable maps of affinities, of political kinship, and there is a strong potential in the crafting of such unities. However, there are more than just a few obstacles that feminists in the virtual communities have to deal with. “But their…

This article explores marginalised desires and the need individuals have to express these desires online, especially when it may not be safe to do so offline. Attention is brought to the need to protect individuals’ rights to engage in sharing content and expressing their desires online; and the need for digital security to protection their data and identities. The article also discusses notions…

Recording cameras everywhere, facial recognition software, gait-recognition technology, unauthorized collection of pictures: It is widely known now that private companies are working with states on surveillance, but does this affect women and girls in a particular way? “While online security is for everyone, women and girls are frequent targets of malicious attacks online, and they suffer greater…

“The neighbour resembling plastic-bag-recording Ricky in American Beauty, who takes surreptitious pictures of you while collecting the day’s post. That picture of me that I posted 7 years ago on MySpace that’s now doing the rounds on some misogynistic Reddit thread. That nanny cam set up to protect your 6-year-old niece whose footage ends up on a child porn site. For most women, Big Brother lives…

Three (and many more) online is not a crowd – neither online nor offline. That is what the multi-award-winning blog "Adventures from the bedrooms of African women" posits. In this interview, one of the blog's founders and writers, Nana Darkoa from Ghana, talks about how this space started, what the boundaries are, and what it takes to build a safe and free space where African women can openly…

People Links is a monthly online gathering hosted by May First/People Link members, for members and open to the public. On 27 March they hosted a discussion on technology-related violence against women and the tensions that exist between combating hate speech and the right to freedom of expression. The discussion featured Erika Smith from the APC Women's Rights Programme (WRP).

In this article, the writer Minna Salami states that while the digital wave is marked by more diversity than previous feminist waves, with people of all walks of life contributing, it is nevertheless predominantly the ways that white/western feminists challenge patriarchal structures using the internet that has garnered attention. "However, important milestones of the global feminist struggle go…

People Links is a monthly online gathering hosted by May First/People Link members, for members and open to the public. On 27 March they hosted a discussion on technology-related violence against women and the tensions that exist between combating hate speech and the right to freedom of expression.

The discussion featured Erika Smith from the APC Women’s Rights Programme (WRP).

Maureen James is Funding and Strategy Specialist at the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) where she has been mobilising funds to support implementation of IFEX programmes and projects since 2003. Maureen has 20 years of experience working at Canadian and international non-profit organizations, all of them networks working together for change – including Web Networks, the…