Communication Rights
Blogs for African Women Project Gets Nigerian Women Hooked on Technology
APC Africa Women Member Wins Harambee Prize
Blogs for African Women (BAWo) has taken hold of the Nigerian blogging spirit to strengthen women’s activism. Oreoluwa Somolu, BAWo’s founder, sees blogging as a way to get women “hooked on technology”, and gain important skills for community and NGO leadership at the same time. Networking for Success, BAWo’s second initiative getting women into the blogosphere, has just been awarded an Harambee Small Grant to increase BAWo’s collaboration capacity.
Tools discussed: Gender and ICTs in education and communication
“The use of ICTs encourages and promotes different teaching and learning methods that are proving to be practical, functional, participatory and adaptable”, confirmed Vera Vieira, NGO coordinator.
Women and Philippine Media: At the Fringes of Freedom
Where are women located in the struggle for freedoms to express, create and disseminate information through ICTs as media?
South Africa and online pornography: Bill sets off alarm bells in women's movement
The Bill was drafted by Justice Alliance of South Africa (JASA), an anti-gay, anti-choice organisation. The countries mentioned by JASA as having enacted similar legislation to the proposal Bill – Yemen and the United Arab Emirates – both censor LGBT as well as political content that they deem undesirable.
Taking into consideration the social context within which laws operate in South Africa, where violence against lesbian women and transgender people is common, “a law focusing on sexual content is likely to see content that focuses on lesbian sexuality or even women’s sexuality as deviant and undesirable” says Shackleton.
“The Law Reform Commission in South Africa, tasked with investigating internet pornography should consider freeing up funds from the Universal Access Fund to promote positive content by women and for women,” says Shackleton. “That way we tip the balance of content in favour of more positive representations of women and more diversity.”
“The Law Reform Commission’s investigation at the very least must be framed by considering that children and women are not the same entity. Children are a separate category of people that require very different legislative approaches than those addressing women,” Shackleton concludes.
Síntesis de prensa de APC: censura, sexualidad e internet
Durante la última década, internet ha sido censurada y su contenido regulado por múltiples motivos, pero la razón principal invocada por gobiernos de todo el espectro geopolítico ha sido el sexo – o el “contenido sexual perjudicial”.
Esta síntesis de prensa preparada por APC examina que tipos de contenido sexual se encuentran en internet y su importancia en relación al derecho a la libertad de expresión y el derecho a la información de las personas.Debido a que el contenido sexual y la conducta relacionada con lo sexual en línea actúa como disparador de intervención estatal y de otro tipo, el PARM de APC lleva adelante el proyecto de investigación EroTICs sobre la forma en que diferentes personas en diversas partes del mundo utilizan internet en relación a la sexualidad. EroTICs es apoyado por la Fundación Ford. Los resultados finales se publicarán a fines de 2010, pero los primeros resultados ya están en línea
Sexuality and the Internet: EroTICs on GenderIT.org
What is the linkage between sexuality and the internet? Why is the protection of users from the ‘harm’ of pornographic content often the principal reason given to regulate the flow of information and exchange over the internet? How does it work in reality, and how does it impact on our ability to access information, form relationships, build communities, create knowledge and exercise self-determination in terms of our sexuality and sexual rights?
From the “J” spot to the cru“X” of the matter
Media issues and ICTs (information and communication technologies) should not be viewed in isolation, nor subjected to the logic of static hierarchies, says Magaly Pazello in her editorial for GenderIT.org’s “Sexuality and the Internet” edition. Both authoritarian governments and participative democracies have defended the false idea that we must choose between rights/freedom and responsibility/protection. Often used to justify this contradiction, gender and sexuality are at the heart of policies to regulate the internet
Investigadora chilena destaca en documental internacional sobre Internet
Patricia Peña, activista a favor de software libre, políticas TIC que favorecen a la ciudadanía y el uso y desarrollo estratégico de las TIC por parte de las mujeres es entre las entrevistadas en un material audiovisual que presenta a los líderes y precursores del desarrollo digital en Chile.
La periodista, Patricia Peña, emigró recientemente al Centro de Investigaciones de la Inclusión Digital y la Sociedad del Conocimiento de la Universidad de La Frontera, para transformarse en parte fundamental de su Línea de Ciudadanía Digital.
Media responsibility in protecting victims of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina
One World Platform for South East Europe (OWPSEE) joins women’s organisations in Bosnia and Herzegonia in protest over media’s irresponsibility in the handling of a case involving a 15-year-old girl who was forced into prostitution. Religious, school and other prominent community leaders are possibly implicated in accusations of human trafficking. Valentina Pellizzer, OWPSEE’s Executive Director and APC WNSP member, expressed outrage at media coverage that exposed the under-age victim’s name, photo, school, address, and family members in blatant violation of ethical and legal norms for protection of victims’ safety and privacy. Local women’s rights organisations are calling for immediate and effective action from authorities to address increasing cases of human trafficking. The organisations are joined by professional journalist associations in demanding sanction of the sensationalist reporting in this case, as well as public apology to the victim and her family.
The “J Spot” at the 54th CSW: celebrating women's social networking is not enough
Heike Jensen, researcher and lecturer at the Department of Gender Studies of Humboldt University in Berlin (Germany) and APC WNSP member, takes this view of Section J at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women: “[The J Spot] seems to prove almost as elusive as locating its embodied cousin has turned out to be. First of all, you will not find the J Spot in this year’s intergovernmental and other official debates or proposed resolutions.
