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Paper short abstract

Kyrgyzstan has become one of the most dangerous countries in Central Asia for women to live in. Under increasingly authoritarian conditions, young polyglot Kyrgyzstani women began to practice their feminist 'sisterhood' online, protesting against neo-traditional practices and crimes against women.

Paper long abstract

Kyrgyzstan has become one of the most dangerous countries in Central Asia for women to live in. Forced marriages, violence against women, and particularly femicides are well-known in the country and have been reported in critical media outlets. But as Kyrgyzstan’s authoritarian government increasingly tightens its grip on local media, the legal profession, and NGOs deemed influenced by 'outside forces', it has become harder for women to publicly raise their voices and inform each other of their rights in classical public settings. In consequence, critical forms of expression have moved to social media: On Instagram and YouTube especially, a new generation of women practice a form of digital feminist ‘sisterhood’ that combines explicit critique of the patriarchal state and of neo-traditional practices such as bride-kidnapping, by means of comedy, edutainment, and through their own music. They speak in a mix of Russian, Kyrgyz and English, reference internet memes in one, and Kyrgyz folk tales in the next sentence, scold their politicians, but embrace their country’s flag and thereby refuse easy categorization. While this form of digital sisterhood also draws on elderly women’s knowledge of feminist practice during Soviet times, it especially forges its own kind, adapted to the circumstances of the young women's own lives.