take back the tech!

An illustrated journal and love letter to the feminists, hackers, women, gender-diverse, astrology-believers, radical nay-sayers, hikers, sleepers, vegans, beef-eaters, and everyone else who gathered in Nepal for the Take back the Tech and Feminist Tech Exchange camps in August 2018.

This bilingual edition is born of many conversations and moments at the two camps held in parallel in August this year (2018) at Dhulikhel, Nepal - the Take back the Tech! meet and the Feminist Tech Exchange.

Technology facilitates violence against women, but it also facilitates information sharing, capacity building, networking and alternative media - Take back the tech! is the realisation of the idea that the internet can be used to expand the movement against all forms of gender-based violence. This edition brings to us the voices from the campaigns from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Canada,…

In this set of interviews, Smita Vanniyar speaks to Japleen Pasricha of Feminism in India, and Divya Rajgopal of WhyHate. In separate ways, both these are projects of passion that find ways to reclaim technology for women and also others marginalised on account of gender non-conformity, sexuality, caste, religion and class. They discuss the pros and cons of anonymity, how to address online VAW…

A detailed conversation with activist and writer Caroline Tagny on the various campaigns that she has been part of with Take Back the Tech. The interviewer, Bianca Baldo, focuses on the politics of language in these various campaigns and the importance of content in local language to connect to and bring together people and movements. The role of French as both a language of the colonial…

Vale Pellizzer looks back at the 10 year journey of the TBTT campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The campaign has taken various shapes in the complicated realities and social dynamics of this country. The fresh and young design of the campaign promised a new hope for reclaiming your agency for women and gender non-conforming people. In this interview Vale talks about the complexities of…

When the TBTT campaign took off in Democratic Republic of Congo, there were few takers. Women rights' activists combatting VAW didn't understand the role ICTs could play in either propagating violence, or in activism. Now other Francophone countries approach SJS to learn more about the ways in which this cutting edge campaign is changing conversations around technology related VAW and reclaiming…

Ten years ago it was hard to explain what is gender based violence online, while now there is some recognition of the widespread misogyny and violence that exists in online spaces towards women and gender non conforming people. It took a decade of tough, dedicated work by women all over the world that finally put technology-related violence in the spotlight. This edition is a collection of…

The attack against APC and Take Back the Tech and efforts to hijack the #takebackthetech hashtag, which has involved people who self-associate with #Gamergate posting threats targeting members of our community and images that depict women being subjected to physical and sexual violence, illustrate how women’s and girls’ voices are silenced on social networking platforms by violent and sexist…

This report provides an overview of data concerning violence against women (VAW) online collected using the Association for Progressive Communications' (APC) online mapping tool. The purpose of the mapping tool, which was set up as part of APC's “End Violence: Women’s rights and safety online” project, was to improve APC’s existing framework for categorising online rights violations, and develop…