Feminist Principles of the Internet / APC Women

An evol­ving docu­ment

Deve­lo­ped at the Gender, Sexu­a­lity and the Inter­net Meeting orga­ni­zed by the Asso­ci­a­tion for Progres­sive Commu­ni­ca­ti­ons. 13–15 April, 2014, Malay­sia

Down­load the prin­ci­ples in pdf format below

In April 2014, the Asso­ci­a­tion for Progres­sive Commu­ni­ca­ti­ons, APC, orga­ni­zed a Global Meeting on Gender, Sexu­a­lity and the Inter­net in Port Dick­son, Malay­sia, brin­ging toget­her 50 parti­ci­pants from six conti­nents compri­sing gender and women’s rights acti­vists, LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bise­xual, trans* and inter­sex) move­ments, inter­net and tech­no­logy rights orga­ni­za­ti­ons, and human rights advo­ca­tes. The goal of the meeting was to bridge the gap between femi­nist move­ments and inter­net rights move­ments and look at inter­sec­ti­ons and stra­te­gic oppor­tu­ni­ties to work toget­her as allies and part­ners.

The exis­ting discourse around gender and the inter­net tends to focus on gender compo­nents lacking in poli­ces that govern the inter­net, viola­ti­ons that take place as a result, and the need for incre­a­sed women’s parti­ci­pa­tion in deci­sion-making forums. In a bid to reframe the conver­sa­tion, the Global Meeting used a colla­bo­ra­tive process to ask the ques­tion: ‘As femi­nists, what kind of inter­net do we want, and what will it take for us to achi­eve it?’

#Imagi­ne­a­Fe­mi­nis­tIn­ter­net

Over three days, the parti­ci­pants discus­sed and deba­ted inter­sec­ti­ons of gender, sexu­a­lity, and the inter­net – not only as a tool – but as a new public space. In thin­king through these issues, the parti­ci­pants at the meeting deve­lo­ped a set of 15 femi­nist prin­ci­ples of the inter­net. These are desig­ned to be an evol­ving docu­ment that informs our work on gender and tech­no­logy, as well as influ­en­ces our policy-making discus­si­ons when it comes to inter­net gover­nance.

We invite you to join the discus­sion and debate on our evol­ving set of femi­nist prin­ci­ples of the inter­net. Get in touch on http://erotics.apc.org or email eroticsapc [ punto ] org (erotics[at]apc[dot]org)

1. A femi­nist inter­net starts with and works towards empo­we­ring more women and queer persons – in all our diver­si­ties – to dismantle patri­ar­chy. This inclu­des univer­sal, affor­da­ble, unfet­te­red, uncon­di­ti­o­nal and equal access to the inter­net.

2. A femi­nist inter­net is an exten­sion, reflec­tion and conti­nuum of our move­ments and resis­tance in other spaces, public and private. Our agency lies in us deci­ding as indi­vi­du­als and collec­ti­ves what aspects of our lives to poli­ti­cize and/or publi­cize on the inter­net.

3. The inter­net is a trans­for­ma­tive public and poli­ti­cal space. It faci­li­ta­tes new forms of citi­zens­hip that enable indi­vi­du­als to claim, cons­truct, and express our selves, genders, sexu­a­li­ties. This inclu­des connec­ting across terri­to­ries, deman­ding accoun­ta­bi­lity and trans­pa­rency, and signi­fi­cant oppor­tu­ni­ties for femi­nist move­ment-buil­ding.

4. Violence online and tech-rela­ted violence are part of the conti­nuum of gender-based violence. The misogy­nis­tic attacks, thre­ats, inti­mi­da­tion, and poli­cing expe­ri­en­ced by women and queers LGBTQI people is are real, harm­ful, and alar­ming. It is our collec­tive respon­si­bi­lity as diffe­rent inter­net stake­hol­ders to prevent, respond to, and resist this violence.

5. There is a need to resist the reli­gi­ous right, along with other extre­mist forces, and the state, in mono­po­li­zing their claim over mora­lity in silen­cing femi­nist voices at nati­o­nal and inter­na­ti­o­nal levels. We must claim the power of the inter­net to amplify alter­na­tive and diverse narra­ti­ves of women’s lived reali­ties.

6. As femi­nist acti­vists, we beli­eve in challen­ging the patri­ar­chal spaces that currently control the inter­net and putting more femi­nists and queers LGBTQI people at the deci­sion-making tables. We beli­eve in demo­cra­ti­zing the legis­la­tion and regu­la­tion of the inter­net as well as diffu­sing owners­hip and power of global and local networks.

7. Femi­nist inter­ro­ga­tion of the neoli­be­ral capi­ta­list logic that drives the inter­net is criti­cal to desta­bi­lize, dismantle, and create alter­na­tive forms of econo­mic power that are groun­ded on prin­ci­ples of the collec­tive, soli­da­rity, and open­ness.

8. As femi­nist acti­vists, we are poli­ti­cally commit­ted to crea­ting and expe­ri­men­ting with tech­no­logy utili­zing open source tools and plat­forms. Promo­ting, disse­mi­na­ting, and sharing know­ledge about the use of such tools is central to our praxis.

9. The inter­net’s role in enabling access to criti­cal infor­ma­tion – inclu­ding on health, plea­sure, and risks – to commu­ni­ties, cultu­ral expres­sion, and conver­sa­tion is essen­tial, and must be suppor­ted and protec­ted.

10. Survei­llance by default is the tool of patri­ar­chy to control and restrict rights both online and offline. The right to privacy and to exer­cise full control over our own data is a criti­cal prin­ci­ple for a safer, open inter­net for all. Equal atten­tion needs to be paid to survei­llance prac­ti­ces by indi­vi­du­als against each other, as well as the private sector and non-state actors, in addi­tion to the state.

11. Everyone has the right to be forgot­ten on the inter­net. This inclu­des being able to access all our perso­nal data and infor­ma­tion online, and to be able to exer­cise control over, inclu­ding knowing who has access to them and under what condi­ti­ons, and being able to delete them fore­ver. Howe­ver, this right needs to be balan­ced against the right to access public infor­ma­tion, trans­pa­rency and accoun­ta­bi­lity.

12. It is our inali­e­na­ble right to choose, express, and expe­ri­ment with our diverse sexu­a­li­ties on the inter­net. Anony­mity enables this.

13. We strongly object to the efforts of state and non-state actors to control, regu­late and restrict the sexual lives of consen­ting people and how this is expres­sed and prac­ti­ced on the inter­net. We recog­nize this as part of the larger poli­ti­cal project of moral poli­cing, censors­hip and hierar­chi­za­tion of citi­zens­hip and rights.

14. We recog­nize our role as femi­nists and inter­net rights advo­ca­tes in secu­ring a safe, healthy, and infor­ma­tive inter­net for chil­dren and young people. This inclu­des promo­ting digi­tal and social safety prac­ti­ces. At the same time, we acknow­ledge chil­dren’s rights to healthy deve­lop­ment, which inclu­des access to posi­tive infor­ma­tion about sexu­a­lity at criti­cal times in their deve­lop­ment. We beli­eve in inclu­ding the voices and expe­ri­en­ces of young people in the deci­si­ons made about harm­ful content.

15. We recog­nize that the issue of porno­graphy online is a human rights and labor issue, and has to do with agency, consent, auto­nomy and choice. We reject simple causal linka­ges made between consump­tion of porno­grap­hic content and violence against women. We also reject the umbre­lla term of porno­grap­hic content labe­led to any sexu­a­lity content such as educa­ti­o­nal mate­rial, SOGIE (sexual orien­ta­tion, gender iden­tity and expres­sion) content, and expres­sion rela­ted to women’s sexu­a­lity.

Image by Rohini Laks­hané