{"id":11769,"date":"2017-06-15T11:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T05:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=11769"},"modified":"2019-04-04T23:40:26","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T18:10:26","slug":"imagine-feminist-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/imagine-feminist-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you Imagine a Feminist Internet?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By:\u00a0Amla Pisharody<\/a><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n

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In August 2016, APC along with some activists and feminists which also included Feminism in India<\/em> revised and released the 17 Feminist Principles of the Internet<\/a><\/strong>. Often I have been asked \u201cWhy do we need Feminist Principles to run the Internet when women and queer individuals already have the freedom to access the internet \u2018just like men\u2019, you are just as safe or vulnerable\u201d.<\/em> Being a woman on the internet, I couldn\u2019t have heard something more foolish.<\/p>\n

\"Text:<\/p>\n

\u201cA feminist internet works towards empowering more women and queer persons \u2013 in all our diversities \u2013 to fully enjoy our rights, engage in pleasure and play, and dismantle patriarchy. This integrates our different realities, contexts and specificities \u2013 including age, disabilities, sexualities, gender identities and expressions, socioeconomic locations, political and religious beliefs, ethnic origins, and racial markers.\u201d\u00a0\u2013 Preamble of the Feminist Principles<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is why we need these principles, this is why I #ImagineAFeministInternet!<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    Access<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In India, only 29% of women<\/a><\/strong> have access to the internet (and men have 71% access to the internet), information about other genders is not available. Gayatri Buragohain, from Feminist Approach to Technology in a Scroll.in<\/a><\/strong> article, said\u00a0\u201cWomen are denied access to the internet just like they are denied access to mobility.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0They are further denied access to information by not being allowed to be on the internet. There is a societal fear that women would \u2018bring shame\u2019 if they were given mobile phones (which is one of the main access point to the internet). Misconceptions like these actively keep women from accessing information about sex, sexuality, reproductive health, health care, government services, pleasure on the web. In a larger sense, it denies access to technology and thus keeps them out of spaces of technology, design, and coding.<\/p>\n

    This principle aims to change the terms of access for queer people and women. It would give them the right to access all components of technology. For example: Under the Dharavi Diary project<\/a><\/strong>, girls (as young as 14) in the slum area of Dharavi now have more access to the internet and have used this to code and design applications like Woman Fight Back<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and Paani Hai Jeevan<\/a><\/strong>. Thus, access when provided to all, can revolutionize societies.<\/p>\n

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    Image Source: Dharavi Diary<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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    1. \n

      Movements and Public Participation<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In 2011, a book called \u2018Why Loiter\u2019<\/em> came out, three years later (to mark the anniversary of the Delhi- gang rape<\/a><\/strong>) the hashtag #WhyLoiter started trending on twitter and it took the online community by storm. Women started posting pictures of themselves and stories about how they were occupying and reclaiming public spaces, which are traditionally used by men, and used the hashtag #WhyLoiter to spread these stories. The resistance to male domination and patriarchy was being actively engaged in both the virtual and physical spaces through this. Movements like Pinjra Tod<\/a><\/strong> and Girls at Dhabas<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0are other revolutionary movements that reclaim public spaces by using the online as a mouth-piece.<\/p>\n

      The #BlackMonday hashtag was used by Polish women to protest the abortion laws, they used the hashtag to mobilize people and spread awareness. This hashtag became hugely popular and South Korea began using it to stage its own protest. A movement like this demanded accountability and transparency from the state and crossed borders. It became a platform for feminist movement building.<\/p>\n

      By seeking accountability from law and policy makers, by rewriting the rules of how the internet can and should be used, these and many other movements like theirs showed that there is a NEED for women and queer people to be part of\u00a0Internet Governance. Without this, we can not hope to have a feminist world.<\/p>\n

      Currently, the global \u00a0gender report card on internet governance is on a positive upward rise<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0and is being recognized.<\/p>\n