Paper short abstract:

Digital spaces can be powerful arenas for feminists to organise – yet they can also be a hostile environment where women face online misogyny and GBV. This paper conceptualises and expose the visible, hidden and invisible power in these socio-technical systems and infrastructures.

Paper long abstract:

Digital spaces can be powerful arenas for feminists to organise – yet they can also be a hostile environment where women face online misogyny, GBV and, increasingly, coordinated online attacks. The growth of an online ‘manosphere’ where an aggrieved masculinity is mobilised has seen feminists, LGBTQ activists, and human rights NGOs that support them positioned as enemies of ‘the people’. Globally we see that the specificities of the political beliefs of these groups vary; but share a common language. Harassment techniques “pioneered” in the manosphere are now used by governments and other state actors – showing the links between a global backlash against women’s rights and other manifestations of closing civic space online. Overall this leads to a chilling effect where women are frightened of speaking out online. In order to open up digital spaces for feminist activists and to ensure that women’s voices are not silenced we need to interrogate the power relations of the deliberately opaque technical systems which mediate our everyday social practices. The business models and architectures of data colonialism intended to maximise the sharing of content, tacitly facilitate abuse and harassment. This paper aims to conceptualise and expose the visible, hidden and invisible power (Miller, VeneKlasen, Reilly and Clark 2006) in these socio-technical systems and infrastructures. Beyond its conceptual value, this framework is intended to serve as prompts for new strategies, approaches and alliances to open up digital civic space.