Links

to a few other people who I discovered blogging the 16 Days. I’m not including blogs I’ve been reading before I started blogging this campaign – these could be called ‘campaign discoveries’! I’m linking to them because I think they say these things better than I can – go on, feast!

First off, Feminist Allies – a great blog I discovered from the last Carnival of Feminists over here. It’s my latest discovery, and I’m quite excited about it.

But violence isn’t a concept with clearly delineated borders, and it’s important for us to recognize this, too. What counts as violence can vary from context to context, from person to person (though, obviously, some sorts of violence are universally recognized as such). This doesn’t justify violence in any context–but recognizing the subtleties involved can help us understand the pervasiveness of gendered violence.

Then, UltraViolet – a fantastic community of Indian feminists, who don’t write as much as I wish they would.

I get the disturbing sense that violence against women is so accepted within the framework of our society, something that we have become so used to, that it ceases to even horrify anymore.

Third, The Curvature – which is about a lot of things, but the 16 Days posts do things I haven’t done – so yay!!

The issue of gender violence is an absolutely massive one, considering the many forms that violence can and does take and all of the intersections of race, sexual orientation, age, nationality, class, religion, location, etc. It has more dimensions than I imagine the combined efforts of every feminist blogger working diligently for the entire 16 days could fully cover. And that’s why it’s so important to say as much as we can.

And, to end, something I wish I had discovered earlier in the 16 days – Take Back the Tech. “Reclaiming ICTs to end Violence Against Women”, they say:

There are at least two ways to see how ICT impact power relations:

• Representation
  ICTs are able to transmit and disseminate norms through representations of “culture” and social structures and relations. Often also acting as media, images reinforce notions of “difference” between men and women by normalising stereotypes of gender roles as reality.

However, this dynamic is not straightforward or simple, as cultures are not homogeneous or static. The increased diversity of content producers on the internet also allows an array of representations that affect gender relations in complex ways. The strands of gender, sexual, cultural, and racial discourses communicated through ICTs must be unravelled to assess their role in affecting culture and norms.

• Communication
  The speed, vastness and relative ease of use, especially of “new” ICTs reduce distance and time between people. This can have a great influence on social relations. ICTs can allow survivors of VAW to seek information and assistance, but can also endanger survivors if utilised without an understanding of their dimensions. Local strategies by organisations can be compromised by ICTs through issues of privacy, misrepresentation and misunderstanding.

On the other hand, organisations have utilised the capabilities of ICTs to network across great distances and mobilise immediate action on urgent situations of VAW. By examining how ICTs have been employed, women’s movements can shape stronger connections with greater understanding of their potential and limitations.

Here’s to random net-surfing and serendipitous discovery!