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…

In depth

Journeying through sexuality, activism and the internet

Posted Thu 9 Nov 2017 - 05:37 | 14,298 views

Kenya has few protections for the people within its own country who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer. In this article Njeri Gateru traces their journey and that of the organisation National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in Nairobi - the difficulties they have faced and their use of online tools and spaces.

Feminist talk

Women's Gaze: Interview with Ninka Khaindrava

Posted Tue 7 Nov 2017 - 05:38 | 8,231 views
In this interview with Ninka Khaindrava, she talks about the state of activism around women's rights, labour rights and sexuality in Georgia. Ninka attended the MFI meeting in Malaysia to learn more about activists and their experiences with security and online violence in other parts of the world.

Feminist talk

[COLUMN] How womxn in the global south are RECLAIMING SOCIAL MEDIA to shine the spotlight on disability

Posted Tue 10 Oct 2017 - 02:22 | 6,621 views

Womxn in global south are making revolutionary uses of social media, and this includes people challenging casual and everyday ableism. In her column Samukelisiwe Mabaso looks at three amazing projects from different countries that are revolutionizing how disability is talked about - how they are changing language, discourse and perceptions

Feminist talk

[COLUMN] How womxn in the Global South are RECLAIMING SOCIAL MEDIA to celebrate being queer

Posted Fri 22 Sep 2017 - 03:36 | 7,788 views
In her third column, Samukelisiwe Mabaso explores how groups and people, artists and performers who are lesbian, gay, bisexual are using the internet and social media to spread messages about love, diversity, and acceptance. This includes projects like Coalition for African Lesbians, Gaysi, Ahwaa and others.

Feminist talk

The nerdiest and most open of them all: Internet Freedom Festival 2017

Posted Fri 7 Apr 2017 - 03:51 | 4,245 views
The Internet Freedom Festival is refreshingly different from most forums around internet rights and technology - it is almost equal in gender ratio, welcoming of gender non conforming and trans persons, and takes privacy of its participants at the venue seriously. Smita Vanniyar tells us more about their experience at the festival this year in Valencia, Spain.

Feminist talk

What is sexual surveillance and why does it matter

Posted Mon 6 Mar 2017 - 16:06 | 12,319 views

We can no longer ignore the pervasive datafication of our lives - the ways in which our habits, illness, abilities, relations are abstracted, and our bodies made into data by an intersecting range of institutions and processes. In this article, the gendered, sexualised and racialised nature of surveillance is unpacked, so we maintain a focus on the power relations involved. Surveillance…

Feminist talk

‘There’s someone else just like you’: inside India’s asexuality networks

Posted Fri 3 Feb 2017 - 05:47 | 13,170 views
Asexuality is often dismissed as experience or identity, even by those within the medical community. However in recent times the internet has played a valuable role in both affirming the choices of those who identify as asexual, and in building networks of support and conversation. Given that it is still very difficult to speak openly about any sexuality in most physical spaces in India, the…

Feminist talk

[COLUMN] Gender Binary: Second Life, First Loves

Posted Mon 30 Jan 2017 - 05:42 | 11,950 views

In this column, Nadika Nadja explores the world of gaming and how it opened up realms of experience for her. Second Life, an enormous immersive multiplayer game, and many other similar environments on the internet, have been revelatory and powerful spaces for people to discover aspects of themselves, particularly in terms of gender and sexuality. From shame and fear, to play and sex, and to…

Publication

Big Data and Sexual Surveillance

Posted Mon 23 Jan 2017 - 09:34 | 9,103 views
Surveillance has historically functioned as an oppressive tool to control women’s bodies and is closely related to colonial modes of managing populations. Big data, metadata and the technologies used to collect, store and analyse them are by no means neutral, but come with their own exclusions and biases. This paper highlights the gendered and racialised effects of data practices; outlines the…