GenderScoop: Online violence as ‘real-world violence’, surfacing feminist lens on the borderlessness of the Internet

GenderScoop is a monthly digest on gender & ICT in the Philippines

March 2022 scoop: Recognizing online violence as ‘real-world violence’, surfacing feminist lens on the borderlessness of the Internet

What we gather this month:

Manifestations of online gender-based violence (OGBV). Incidence of ICT-facilitated trafficking and gendered disinformation continued.

• Election disinformation efforts target to damage Robredo’s image, boost Marcos Jr.’s
• 2 girls rescued from online sexual exploitation 
• 3 Filipinas, 1 Nigerian charged with kidnapping in ‘sale of baby girl’ to pay off ‘e-sabong’ debts
• Schemer using Facebook for sex with minors arrested in Iligan City
• Man arrested for ‘sextortion’ in Naga City

The internet and women and girls’ activism. This Women’s History Month, online spaces and technology were continuously recognized as instrumental to the meaningful exercise of women and girls’ rights.

• On March 8th, women clamor for a progressive and pro-women government 
  • FMA on Women’s Day (March 8): Cancel the culture of misogyny, sexism offline and online; use technology for activism!
• #SheStrikes protest versus online violence against women 
• Legal service platform ‘Tisya Hustisya’ named only Philippine finalist at World Justice Challenge 2022
• Pangasinan town passes “bawal bastos” ordinance
• CSC urges gov’t agencies to review HR systems, policies for women such as online sexual harassment
• Youth groups launch 10-point electoral agenda for girls, young women. Among the demands is to “protect public and digital spaces from all forms of sex and gender-based violence, harassment, and discrimination”
• ‘Online violence is real-world violence’ – Maria Ressa
• Raissa Robles gets cybercrime law expert in case vs absent Larry Gadon in charges of Safe Spaces Act violation
• The female gaze: Your #SecretNudes are safe with artist Christa Vega

Platforms spotlight women. Various online platforms aligned with causes for women.

• Meta installs safety tools for women leaders, journos across social media platforms (See also: Tighter security, safety from sexualized attacks: Meta gears up for Halalan 2022)
• TikTok puts spotlight on #WomenofTiktok through these activities
• Google Jigsaw: Technology to help women journalists document and manage online abuse

For more information on gender & ICT in the Philippines, check out:

• Women’s Rights Online – Philippines for issues about gender digital divide in the Philippines
• Take Back the Tech! Philippines for issues about OGBV in the Philippines and using technology at hand for activism against gender-based violence (See also: online platform for mapping OGBV in the Philippines)

Reads on gender and feminist perspectives on ICT. We saw quite a lot of article and research releases that highlight the intersecting issues of gender and ICT. These include women’s online safety, internet algorithms, and access (or lack thereof).

• The art of the con: ‘Inventing Anna,’ ‘The Tinder Swindler’ and gender
• What doxxing is, and why you should care 
• Why internet shutdowns are even worse for women
• Not My AI: A feminist framework to challenge algorithmic decision-making systems deployed by the public sector
• Why gender perspectives must be included in the study of artificial intelligence
• Encounters, coffees and conflicts: Reflections from action-research on a feminist autonomous network

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT.  Check out FMA’s Gender & ICT discussions this month:

• ‘Lapagan’: Capturing Digital Voyeurism with PH Laws” (Zoom)
• #NoToSIMCardReg: Impact of Mandatory SIM Card Registration on Women’s Rights (Twitter Space)

Beyond the Philippines. The Internet is boundless. Here are reads this month from across the world that may affect how we look at gender & ICT issues in the Philippines:

• Sisters flee Ukraine amid Russia invasion, document journey to Portugal on Reddit: ‘We did it. We crossed the border’
• India: ‘Freedom of expression or medium for violence?: The dignity of women in cyber discourses‘
• Africa: ‘Digital Safetea: Protecting the Safety: Protecting the Safety of Women Online‘
• Brazil: ‘Anti-rights discourse in Brazilian social media: Digital networks, violence and sex politics‘
• International coalition to support filing of a suit to stop South Korea’s shutdown of womenonweb.kr, a website that provides information on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

This month’s Feminist Principle of the Internet (FPI)

Information

Did you know that 3/4 of the online population of the world today comes from the global South – from Asia, from Africa, from Latin America? Also, nearly half all women are online. Yet most public knowledge online has so far been written by white men from Europe and North America. This is according to Whose Knowledge?, a global campaign working to create, collect and curate knowledge from and with marginalised communities, particularly women, people of colour, LGBTQI communities, indigenous peoples and others from the global South.  Why make a feminist internet? >

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Maraming Salamat!