feminist principles of the internet

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…

In this special edition of GenderIT.org we share the experiences and reflections on the recent 13th AWID International Forum, in which a large group of women from APC Women's Rights Programme, from different countries and regions, participated enthusiastically. With the participation of 1,700 people from 140 countries, this year's AWID Forum showed that the feminist movement keeps growing…

"Welcome to the Feminist Internet eXchange Hub! Make sure you come back tonight for some group sexting - public, autonomous, anonymous, group sexting!" we called to women as they stumbled in to explore our feminist internet exchange space at AWID Feminist Futures Forum, 2016. Sometimes they grinned and asked "what time!?", sometimes their cheeks reddened and they looked away abruptly. Most were…

Not being able to connect online has geopolitical and infrastructural dimensions. On the one hand, we face the challenge to defend internet as a common good, beyond the claws of Capitalism and Patriarchy; on the other hand, we encounter the possibility of creating and engaging in other landscapes. Bringing to life places (though sometimes ephemeral) like the Feminist Internet Exchange FixHub in…

Whose Knowledge? works with individuals, communities, organisations and movements worldwide to create, collect and curate knowledge from and with marginalised communities, particularly women, people of colour, LGBTQI communities, indigenous peoples and others from the global South. Essentially, Whose Knowledge? is a radical re-imagining and reconstruction of the internet, so that the internet…

Interview with Coraline Ada Ehmke, best known for her exemplary work in setting up the Contributor Covenant - a code of conduct for open source projects. Coraline's life story is an inspiration for all those working for the rights of those marginalized, and their experience in free and open source software cultures. In this interview she describes the ways in which her transition has affected her…

The word Impostor keeps coming up every time a trans woman writes about herself. It is there, just below the surface, despite all the estrogen and progesterone, under all the skin-colour foundation and pink lipstick and shiny earrings. It is behind the pads on our breast, cushioning the tender nipples. The feeling, and the word - impostor. We are impostors when we try to be us, and when we try to…

Pluses were the 32nd session of HRC acknowledging that women face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, online violence got a mention and so did indigenous women human rights defenders. Negatives were how far is all this from the realities of sexuality and gender based discrimination and violence.