erotics

Within the arena of ‘women, sexuality and the internet’, the usual suspects of pornography, indecency, and non-consensual videography are often the first topics that come to mind. But women aren’t just subjects on the internet – they are users, too. A presentation at the EROTICS India workshop overturned some common assumptions by highlighting experiences of women online.

This blog post is second in a series of ten blog posts to report on the EROTICS India workshop, recently concluded in Delhi. All the blog posts in this series are written by Richa Kaul Padte, the official rapporteur at the meeting.

Are you member of a non-governmental or a community-based organisation? Are you an academic or a researcher? Do you work within networks or coalitions? Are you an independent blogger? If you are a sexuality rights activist and you use the internet in your work, this call is for you.

Bringing together sexual rights activists, women’s groups and internet activists, the first EROTICS India workshop – organised by Point of View, APC (Association for Progressive Communications) and the Internet Democracy Project - explored the relationship between sexual rights activism, sexuality, and the Internet. Focusing on issues ranging from rights to security to advocacy, the workshop…

EROTICS – which stands for Exploratory Research on Sexuality and ITCs (same as ICTs)- is a global project that attempts to explore how marginalized sections are using the Internet and the ICTs, at large, to assert their sexual rights. The India chapter - #EROTICSIndia - was organised in Delhi recently by the Internet Democracy Project in collaboration with South Africa based APC and Point of View…

Melissa Ditmore reflects on release and subsequent pulling back of new application designed to collect data on sexual activity by Kinsey Institute in the USA. She outlines privacy concerns raised and how these holes can jeopardize users data. She also makes a make a case how this app once privacy gaps are fixed can assist to document unwanted and often under-reported sexual experiences, such as…

The challenge of doing sexual health outreach work in East London has been transformed by police action in the run up to the Olympics. APC member GreenNet answered Open Doors Sexual Health Clinic’s request for a new website that could speak clearly to east London sexworkers with advice and resources.

I found myself being confronted with the issue of anonymity and accountability in different ways at the AWID Forum. At the Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) and Connect Your Rights events that took place just before the Forum, we discussed about the different and increasingly sophisticated ways that internet technologies have been used to erode any sense of anonymity online.

I spent a full day yesterday focusing on the intersection of feminism, activism, and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). And I kept running into the same women (the feminist Twitterati?). And these women were mostly already known to me from my own work on the issue. This worries me a little bit. Could it be that there are so few feminist / female Techies in the world that we all know…

Gus Hossein, Director of Privacy International, speaks candidly of his take on the EROTICS research project and its potential impact and value on the work on privacy rights.