Feminist talk
Snippets from Connect Your Rights, Mumbai
Point of View held “Connect Your Rights!”, an all-day meeting exploring the links between gender rights, sexual rights, and Internet rights, on November 11, 2013 at Mumbai. It was the first meeting in the second phase of the EROTICS India project. The first phase comprised of an exploratory research study on sexuality and ICTs in India.
EROTICS all over: Constellations of debates on sexual rights, privacy and technology
"EROTICS project":http://www.apc.org/en/projects/erotics-exploratory-research-project-sex… is moving forward and discussions on sexual rights, violence against women, censorship. privacy, pornography, freedoms and risks in the online world. are flowing all around. Two meetings took place lately, one…
In depth
"We have to gain more ground with human rights advocacy organizations": Interview with Vanessa Coria Castilla of Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights
On September 21st the website of the "Health Network of Latin American and Caribbean Women” (RSMLAC: Red de Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe) was attacked and taken down. This attack occurred immediately after the launch of several activities related to #28SAbortoLegal, the September 28th social media campaign to legalise abortion. In this special issue, working with our partner…
In depth
"If we don't stop these attacks, we run the risk of being left without a voice": Interview with Sandra Castañeda Martínez of RSMLAC
The attack on the Health Network of Latin American and Caribbean Women (RSMLAC: Red Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe) website confirms that we need to constantly defend the rights of women. Here, in a special interview for GenderIT.org, we talk with Sandra Castañeda Martínez, general coordinator of the RSMLAC, who helps us visualize the scale of violence on the internet today.
Networking, safety and sexual agency
98% of activists see the internet as an "important public sphere for advancing sexual rights":http://www.genderit.org/node/3836. However 51% of them have suffered online hate speech, censorship or privacy violations. Sexual rights activists from Africa and the Middle East face double risk compared to colleagues from elsewhere of being attacked by…
Editorial
A is for Agency
It’s been a great month for cyber-feminism. The #FBrape campaign succeeded in changing the social network giant’s policies on violence against women in record time. The global alarm over the NSA surveillance scandal created mass awareness over privacy and access to personal data. And Instagram launched hipster filters for videos. Perhaps not as breakthrough, but definitely encouraging of more…
In depth
Tangled, like wool - Sex, sexuality and the internet in India
A recent survey of sexual rights activists in India shows that most consider the internet an integral part of their activism. Tangled, Like Wool explores several intertwined questions arising from this: What does the internet bring to sexual rights activism? Do the online and the offline complement each other in this kind of activism? How does keeping the internet free and open strengthen…
In depth
How activism shapes your experience of being a citizen on the internet
What does it mean to use the internet freely and fully? What freedom do you have to express who you are, how you live your life, what you desire, dream and believe in on the internet? And how safely can you communicate, contribute, exist, navigate and be in the spaces online that can so powerfully connect you to communities and knowledges that build our sense of self? This article written by…
Feminist talk
Women’s rights and threats to online freedom: reflections from the Freedom Online Conference 17 to 18 June 2013
From 17 to 18 June 2013 I took part in the conference on online freedom known as Freedom Online. This conference, carrying the same name of the coalition behind it, highlighted the continent in which it was hosted. In the midst of the international storm about surveillance and censorship, our specific focus was online freedom in Africa and the Arab world as Tunisia, like all of the Maghreb, has…
Feminist talk
Blaming the victim
It was a bit like ping-pong - reporters, activists, and representatives from civil society organisations in a hot debate on privacy in Facebook. Some pointed out how Facebook (FB) from its inception is designed to encourage giving up your innermost secrets – or at least your relationship status. That privacy configurations change frequently on FB and it's hard to keep up or understand the…