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Voices from digital spaces: Technology related violence against women

Katerina Fialova and Flavia Fascendini
Katerina Fialova and Flavia Fascendini on 27 March, 2012 - 15:52
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Based in Czech Republic, Katerina is GenderIT.org´s coordinator. Flavia lives in Argentina and is Spanish and Portuguese GenderIT.org editor.

Drawing on findings from APC's MDG3i: Take Back the Tech!i project with women's rightsi organisations in twelve countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, this paper explores the links between the interneti, cell phones and violence against womeni and illustrates that technology related violence impacts women as seriously as other forms of violence.

 
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EROTICS: Sex, rights and the internet - an exploratory research study

Jac sm Kee et al
Jac sm Kee et al on 9 August, 2011 - 13:47
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*Editor:* Jac sm Kee Authors: Manjima Bhattacharjya, Sonia Corrêa, Melissa Ditmore, Kevicha Echols, Maya Indira Ganesh, Marina Maria, Nicolene McLean, Nadine Moawad, Relebohile Moletsane, Jeanne Prinsloo, Tamara Qiblawi, Jandira Queiroz, Horacio Sívori, Bruno Zilli

How is the interneti a key public sphere for the struggle for sexual citizenship and the exercise of sexual rightsi? What is its value to a diversity of users, especially those most marginalised or discriminated against because of their sexual, gender ior other forms of social identity? Why do arguments for the regulationi of the internet anchor on the moral imperative to regulate sexuality? Who are the key actors influencing processes of decision making, and what are the ways in which the potentially liberatory impact of the internet is being constricted and narrowed? The 3 year EROTICSi research project delves into the complex world of sexuality and internet regulation, and uncovers interesting insights to these questions from Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa and the US. The full research findings and a synthesis chapter is presented in this report.

 
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Internet Governance Issues on Sexuality and Women's Rights

APC WNSP, Alternative Law Forum, APC EROTICS Project
APC WNSP, Alternative Law Forum, APC EROTICS Project on 10 September, 2010
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The Internet Governance Forum i(IGF) has been a challenging space for both women's rightsi advocates and for broader constituencies engaged in advocacyi for gender equalityi and sexuality related rights. In the fifth and final year of its mandate, women's rightsi are still being dwarfed as a critical issue to be debated in this arena, while sexuality issues, although present, are not seen as a matter of rights. In preparation for this year's IGF, this briefing document highlights key issues on interneti regulationi that are relevant for gender iequality and sexuality. It also brings to the debate findings from various research initiatives undertaken by APC and key partners, including a cross-country research initiative - EROTICS - that is being conducted in five countries: Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa and the United Stateis.

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Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) : Violence against women and ICT

Sylvie Niombo with contributions by Josepha Pumbulu, Esquire and Philomène Mukendi
Sylvie Niombo with contributions by Josepha Pumbulu, Esquire and Philomène Mukendi on 4 November, 2009 · Africa
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In the context of a country with one of the world's worst human rightsi records, women and girls are the victims of sexual violence perpetrated mostly by combatants from both sides. However, Sylvie Niombo finds in this paper that the intersections between violence against womeni and girls and ICTs in the DRC are not well established. The interneti makes it possible to share experiences and receive information to advance the cause of women’s rights but can facilitate violence towards Congolese women and girls. A lack of confidence in the legal system and the strong presence of men in the judiciary make women unlikely to seek help from the courts, but there is growing mobilisation of women and human rights organisations in the fight to end violence against women (VAW) in partnership with the United Nations and international organisations.

 
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Philippines: Violence against women and ICT

Jessica Umanos Soto
Jessica Umanos Soto on 3 August, 2010 - 11:17
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Jessica Umanos Sotos explores why specific law is needed in the Philippines to prosecute perpetrators of violence against womeni through the use of ICTis or cyberspacei. She argues that national ICT institutions and private companies’ policies cannot remain blind to the violations to women’s rights perpetuated via ICTs in the context of the violation of privacyi rights through the illicit production and distribution of private and intimate activities. The violation of privacy rights comes in the form of sex-video scanidals via telephony and interneti. She also documents how, although there are no available studies on how other forms of violence such as stalking or sexual harassment and even direct threats are figuring as VAW via mobile phones, these violations are believed to be widespread

 
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Argentina: Strategic use of ICT as a response to violence against women

Florencia Goldsman with collaboration of Flavia Fascendini
Florencia Goldsman with collaboration of Flavia Fascendini on 23 July, 2010
1 comments | 4994 reads
Florencia Goldsman holds a degree in Communication at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2009, she joined the Take Bach the Tech! campaign as a contributor and is responsible for @DominemoslasTic in Twitter. Flavia Fascendini is a social communicator. Since January 2007, she works as the GenderIT.org Spanish/Portuguese site editor.
GenderIT.org

Although violence against womeni through information and communication technologies is not yet a matter of public discussion in Argentina, the problem affects the lives of women and girls. A workshop held in Buenos Aires by APC WNSP to guide women in the strategic usei of ICTis to combat violence resulted in some interesting initiatives. Concern regarding the irregular use made of cell phones, the growing circulation of pornographic images and the impact of social networks on women’s privacyi are some of the points highlighted in the debates at the workshop. In connection with the workshop, Florencia Goldsman and Flavia Fascendini investigate the status of public policies aimed at promoting the use of ICTs to fight violence towards women, and delve further into some of the aspects of privacy and security.

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Democratic Republic of the Congo: Two sides of the same ICT coin - breaking the silence /breaking the laws

Mavic Cabrera-Balleza
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza on 11 July, 2010
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Mavic Cabrera-Balleza is the international coordinator of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. Since 2006, Mavic has been a member of the GenderIT.org pool of writers.
GenderIT.org

GenderIT.orgi writer Mavic Cabrera-Balleza speaks with Sylvie Niombo and Francoise Mukuku, ICTi activists from Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) respectively. They discuss various facets of the information and communication technologies and the context to which they apply in the DRC . The interviewees elaborate on how ICTs can be used to reduce incidence of violence against womeni and how it is also widely used in ways that aggravate the violence and violate privacyi laws. They also explain why access to ICTs is critical to the DRC and how it can be used to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

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South Africa: Privacy and domestic violence online and off

Esther Nasikye, co-authored by Sally-Jean Shackleton
Esther Nasikye, co-authored by Sally-Jean Shackleton on 30 June, 2010 · Southern Africa
2 comments | 6448 reads
Esther Nasikye is a trained citizen journalist and founder of ChangeWaves, a civil society organization in Uganda that was established to support organizations, women, men and young people to access and share knowledge through ICTs for the sustainable development. Sally-Jean Shackleton previously worked with Women'sNet and is currently a consultant doing work related to women's voice and representation with a number of organisations.
GenderIT.org

While women's rightsi activists have been at the forefront of making the private crimes that occur at home - domestic violence, marital rape - public, new technologies are making the private public in ways that disenfranchise, alienate and violate women. Esther Nasikye and Sally-Jean Shackleton explore how ICTis, privacyi and domestic violence in South Africa are showing up problems in both policyi and practice.

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Internet regulation and the Brazilian EroTICs context

Sonia Corrêa, Marina Maria and Jandira Queiroz
Sonia Corrêa, Marina Maria and Jandira Queiroz on 7 April, 2010
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Authors Sonia Corrêa, Marina Maria and Jandira Queiroz document how gender iand sexuality have been at the heart of interneti regulationi debates in Brazil. However, this centrality does not necessarily translate to the discourses, analysis and the political claims of social actors involved in sexual politics, on the one hand, and digital politics, on the other. In the authors' view, there is no clarity or positioning among feminists and LGBTi activists regarding the ways in which gender and sexuality issues are at play in the political dynamics of internet regulation. Further no strong interaction exists between communication rights advocates and the world of sexual politics. Nevertheless the authors perceive cyber activists' commitment to privacyi rights as very auspicious for sexual and reproductive rights.

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Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Internet?

Nadine Moawad
Nadine Moawad on 30 March, 2010 · Arab States
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"Clearly, one cannot speak of sexual rightsi activism in Lebanon without speaking at length about interneti usage, as both are tied together at levels from personal identity and relationships to political activism and mobilization," claims Nadine Moawad, the APC's EroTICsi project partner. In this article, she assesses the role of the internet in the rise of sexual rights activism in Lebanon, and explores connections between internet regulationis and attitudes towards sexuality.

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