Feminist talk

Anonymity, accountability and the public sphere

Posted Wed 16 May 2012 - 15:38 | 12,835 views
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.

Feminist talk

Bargain basement shopping in the information society

Posted Tue 15 May 2012 - 06:19 | 11,359 views
When I saw this quote on Mozilla's new Collusion website: "If you're not paying for something, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold - Andrew Lewis." I felt it summed up the economics tool box session on Commodification of Knowledge that APC led at the 2012 AWID Forum quite nicely. The session, organised by APC, brought together speakers to spark debate and reflection, but the…

Feminist talk

Taking street harassment off the streets and off the map!

Posted Mon 14 May 2012 - 12:10 | 11,024 views
I walked in late to the jam-packed session “Bringing Gender to the Streets: Young Women Amidst the Arab Uprisings” at AWID Forum 2012. This was not a session about technology or the internet, but it was a common strand running through each presenters' activism and evidence-building for women's rights, even and perhaps especially in the midst of revolution.

Feminist talk

Privacy and voice

Posted Fri 11 May 2012 - 08:03 | 8,471 views
I'm sure we've all seen amazing testimony videos of incredibly sensitive subjects: of women who choose to have abortion and share why despite risking imprisonment in their country for this act of taking control of their bodies; lesbians who come out fighting against "correctional rape"; rural women living in isolated regions sharing stories of cultural violence. I cringe and wonder - do they know…

Feminist talk

Have you ever spied on your ex on Facebook?

Posted Thu 10 May 2012 - 08:34 | 7,169 views
The question in the headline elicits a complicit smile. Have you ever? Or have you spied on their new partner? Or have you googled someone you just met and liked a lot? At the interactive session on “Privacy and pleasure” that was held as part of the 2012 AWID Forum there were a variety of participants, of diverse ages, that raised their hands, recognizing that both Facebook and Google are tools…

Feminist talk

Women's advocacy campaigns less effective when feminist?

Posted Wed 9 May 2012 - 10:19 | 13,434 views
Images of amazing infographics and heart-wrenching campaigns circled us in the recent "Using information design in advocacy for women's rights" workshop at AWID Forum 2012. Maya and Faith from Tactical Tech led us in a provocative session, where small groups focussed on just one of six questions about each "ad" or campaign image as they toured the room. Questions to tackle included: who did the…

Feminist talk

You walk away hopeful

Posted Wed 9 May 2012 - 10:05 | 6,246 views
A graceful tree glimmering with scarves and blue beads to ward off the evil eye greeted us every day during the 12th AWID Forum: Nazar Degemesin - “May the evil eye not touch her”. Every morning participants could share their message and hang the bead, scarf and satchel (and coin if they had one) for another participant to find at the end of the day.

Feminist talk

Some notes on ESCRIBANA and its creative way to harness the power-politics of communications

Posted Mon 7 May 2012 - 15:49 | 8,780 views
Flavia from GenderIT.org based her feminist talk on Maria Suárez Toro's notes for the session "Harnessing the Power-Politics of Communications: A New Edge for Feminist Transformative Activism" that took place during the 12th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights in Development. The session was organized by APC WNSP and took place on 12 April 2012 in Istanbul. María Suárez Toro, from the…

Feminist talk

Take away personal dynamics, be anonymous

Posted Wed 25 Apr 2012 - 14:50 | 7,985 views
Who said we should write things in our own names? It makes it personal. Today there was a debate at AWID Forum about a letter that was distributed criticising the exclusion of a certain discourse in the MENA region, and a point that was used to attack the letter was that it was not signed, you can't identify the authors of the letter, and no one "to take responsibility" for its content.

Feminist talk

Liberation Inc. – more reflections from the AWID Forum

Posted Sun 22 Apr 2012 - 07:02 | 6,634 views
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…