The right to scream: Research on sexuality, the internet and communication

Posted Thu 21 Dec 2017 - 09:59 | 6,958 views

This edition is an exploration of the multiple layers of the relationship between sexuality, rights and sexual expression and the internet, through the EROTICS research located in three countries in South Asia and the EROTICS global survey of sexuality and internet activists. The most emphatic finding of both the survey and research is that communication rights should be considered as part of…

Editorial

[EDITORIAL] Where have all the queer women gone?

Posted Thu 21 Dec 2017 - 08:37 | 9,457 views

In this year-end edition we look at the state of internet and sexual rights, communication rights globally, and particularly in South Asia. The editorial by Subha Wijesiriwardena looks at the place of women within the struggle for rights around sex, sexuality and sexual expression, and particularly the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer people (LGBTIQ) and their…

In depth

Interview with Women's Media Collective, Sri Lanka: About lesbian tutorials and other strategies

Posted Thu 21 Dec 2017 - 06:57 | 10,520 views
As part of the EROTICS research, the Women's Media Collective, Sri Lanka did research on 1) human rights of Sri Lanka lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer and 2) is on use of online space by lesbian women. In this interview by Shubha Kayastha, WMC talks about their process and recommendations.

Feminist talk

Flesh rather than word

Posted Tue 19 Dec 2017 - 05:51 | 7,848 views
In 2017 the Independent Expert for Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression and the Yogyakarta +10 principles acknowledged the specific social, cultural, health and other issues that are faced by those who are gender non conforming, and non-binary. This article looks at the online lives of those who challenge, play with, question and disrupt the gender binary, and do more - who are visibly and…

Publication

Gendering Surveillance

Posted Tue 23 May 2017 - 05:35 | 7,513 views

Surveillance powers of the state and corporations are escalating and are hugely assisted by information technology. Under regimes of colonialism and patriarchy, women, minorities and all other subjects have experienced being surveilled, enumerated and categorised. There is a need to now relook at how gender is implicated in surveillance practices in the contemporary. In this resource, Internet…

Feminist talk

[COLUMN] Access and Beyond (2): Motivations for internet use

Posted Thu 11 May 2017 - 03:32 | 6,856 views
In this column, Chenai Chair explores motivations of internet use through the ResearchICT Africa study in Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. Business, local and global communication, social ties, and curiosity seem to be the main motivators. By understanding why people go online, we can better shape interventions for a connected society.

Publication

Technology-mediated Violence against Women in India: Discussion paper

Posted Tue 9 May 2017 - 03:33 | 6,630 views

The purpose of this issue paper is to lay out the key legal, institutional and ethical issues concerning technology-mediated Violence against Women (VAW), to raise critical questions for further deliberation and action. This paper draws upon secondary literature in this area, and inputs from Indian feminist scholars and practitioners working in the domains of gender-based violence, women’s…

Feminist talk

A place for all: On being diverse and inclusive @RightsCon

Posted Fri 28 Apr 2017 - 05:27 | 5,476 views
More than 1,500 business leaders, civil society advocates, policy makers, lawyers, bloggers, technologists, and users participated in RightsCon Brussels 2017 (March) and there were over 250 sessions related to human rights and technology. Serene Lim explores the ways in which inequity was addressed at the forum, and how exclusion and marginalisation were framed in various sessions.

Feminist talk

The internet of Things: smart devices, quantified self, dolls and vibrators

Posted Thu 27 Apr 2017 - 05:28 | 6,976 views
If an object has a chip, it becomes smart, and by extension our houses become smarter - and so do our cities, hospitals, toys, phones. But what about the inventors, the creators, the owners, the users of all these smart and tiny things - are we becoming smarter? Reflecting on sessions in Rights Con 2017 in Brussels, Vale examines the ways in which the internet of things can lead to invasive…

Feminist talk

[COLUMN] Access and beyond (1): Navigating the gendered cyberspace

Posted Wed 12 Apr 2017 - 05:18 | 5,917 views

In this column series, Chenai Chair explores the barriers to accessing the internet in four countries in Africa - Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. The study in particular looks at the impact of affordability of internet and subsidised data services, and what impact this has on people in different locations (countries, urban-rural), of different genders, and so on. In the first column,…