Illustration by Catalina Alzate for FIRN
At the Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN), we believe that feminist research is inherently personal, grounded in relationality and accountability to the collectives and communities we are a part of, work alongside and imagine as. We acknowledge research methods alone do not define the value or limitations of our work. Rather, it is how we approach, interpret and remain in relationship with the data – recognising the stories, complexities and lived realities within – that reveals the generosity or constraints of our knowledge. It is in this process of locating ourselves within the data – recognising our own positions, identities and power - that feminist research is distinctively powerful and generative.
This GenderIT edition provides important analysis of the critical insights that have emerged from the 10 research projects under the third cycle of FIRN. At the very core of the research are the heartbreaks and resilience of communities; they illustrate the complexities of Tech-Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV), how it intersects with the hierarchy of identities and belongings, shaped by various geopolitical, nationalist, and socioeconomic factors. In doing so, they expose the gaps within the dominant discursive framings of TFGBV and thereby, invite us to shift our thinking from restrictive and institutionally defined responses towards TFGBV, and to reimagine a different liveable future that celebrates diversity and prioritises care. Without a fuller picture of how TFGBV manifests, we risk investing our resources and labour into band-aid interventions that do not lead to systemic change.
- Editorial - Reading ourselves: Feminist data analysis and relational praxis: In this editorial, the author reflects on how feminist research is not only about “expertise”; it is a practice of relationality, care and critically engaged meaning-making in connection with the people and movements at the heart of our research.
- “Carving out our spaces”: Sharing takeaways from our research on the experiences of Black Brazilian women resisting TFGBV: This article provides an overview of how Black Brazilian women have been carving out their own online spaces, building strategies for resistance, connection and possibility – despite mainstream digital technologies being often laden with racism, sexism, and misogynoir.
- “I am drowning under the weight of hatred”: The scope and nature of technology-facilitated gender-based violence in Tajikistan: Set against Tajikistan’s political and social structure, this article highlights how TFGBV exists as a continuum with offline violence, reinforcing patriarchal values and established gender norms that have power over women and are used to control them.
- Disinformation, Social Manipulation and Expanded Authoritarian Digital Control in Egypt: Drawing from the research, this article addresses the complex interplay of political, economic and social structures driving state and non-state tech-facilitated violence in Egypt, highlighting its connection to the recent wave of arrests targeting TikTok content creators.
- Threads of harm and Ethiopian queer resistance to digital violence: This article weaves together the experience of LGBTQIA+ communities in Ethiopia – how they are impacted by OGBV yet they continue to exist and build community with creativity, resistance and strength.
- Gender, Power, and Digital Spaces: Understanding Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence amongst students of South African Higher Institutions: This article highlights the key findings on university students’ understanding and experiences regarding TFGBV on social media and online dating platforms in South Africa.
- Feminist digital forensics: As a feminist hacker organisation, MariaLab questions how digital forensics can be used to address TFGBV cases, with the aim of developing feminist helplines through the systematisation and improvement of consensual digital forensics.
- Between survival and resistance: Digital rights of sex workers in Uruguay: This article reflects on how the increased digitalisation of sex work has provides opportunities for greater independence and safety, but it also exposes them to violence and surveillance and intensifies precarity by transferring costs and risk onto sex workers.
- Witnesses, militants, martyrs: When technology meets borders: In the era of AI-automated annihilation, the authors bring us through the many questions on what and how a truly decolonial act looks like – what sabotaging the tools of colonial genocide and occupation, and embracing limitations as anti-colonial praxis, could look like.
- A decolonial feminist exploration of Black women and gender non-conforming people’s experiences of technology-facilitated gender-based violence: The article reveals how Black women and gender non-conforming persons experience TFGBV differently due to historical and geopolitical factors, and how TFGBV is used to silence bloggers and journalists doing feminist works.
- iHEAR TransNet: Intersectional experiences of TFGBV among the trans, non-binary and gender diverse communities in India: Adopting an intersectional and participatory approach, this article shares the stories of how transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse people experience TFGBV, what strategies they employ to resist and safeguard themselves, and what barriers exist in accessing support.