Sexuality and the Internet: a five country perspective

This blog post is the final one in a series of ten blog posts to report on the EROTICS India workshop, recently concluded in Delhi. All the blog posts in this series are written by Richa Kaul Padte, the official rapporteur at the meeting.

‘The Internet is an unregulated space where you can connect to other people…It is a new frontier, it is a new imagination that makes things possible…It is this space that is so central to our existence and being.’ – Jac sm Kee, APC Women

How does the relationship between sexuality and the Internet play out in different countries? What does this mean for sexual rights? The EROTICS research looks at different aspects of Internet use in five countries through the lens of sexuality. Here are some snippets:

Lebanon. When the blog Gay Lebanon was launched, it was more than just a blog – it was what the queer community pinpoints as the start of a sexual rights movement in the country; the first time a group of queer people were ‘out’, online.  Self-declared as the first and only LGBT networking site in the Middle East, Gay Lebanon is a virtual queer community free from the prejudice of the offline world. Says Jac sm Kee from APC Women, ‘The blog is so much more than just a place to share news…It is a place to reclaim the language that has been colonised…It is archival and…it is claiming the capacity and space to self represent.’

South Africa. Gender DynamiX, an online hub for trans people in South Africa, is the first African website dedicated solely to the transgender community. With its mission as working to envision a society where everyone can express their gender free from fear, Gender DynamiX is a virtual space for trans people across the African continent. From comparing doctors and medical procedures to finding opportunities to rehearse new gender roles, the website provides a space for information, conversation and creating relationships.

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‘choli ke peeche kya kai?’: censorship and pornography

This blog post is ninth in a series of ten blog posts to report on the EROTICS India workshop, recently concluded in Delhi. All the blog posts in this series are written by Richa Kaul Padte, the official rapporteur at the meeting.

Banned: advertisements promoting sex-selection on Google, Microsoft Bing and Yahoo.

Banned: searches from India with the words ‘sex’ or ‘sexual’ on Microsoft Bing.

Banned: porn cartoon Savita Bhabhi, depicting the sexual exploits of a married Indian woman.

The discourse of censorship is well-known to most people, as India’s right-wing moral brigades routinely flock to the streets to prevent everything from item numbers in Bollywood films to sex education posters in trains to the greeting-card shop Archies (for its ‘promotion’ of Valentine’s Day) from going ahead. But what does this mean for freedom of speech and expression in the country? And more specifically, given that the bans most frequently pertain to sex, and more specifically, female sexuality, what does this mean for women?

Article 19 of the Indian Constitution guarantees citizens the freedom of speech and expression as a fundamental right. This is immediately followed by Article 19(2), a clause common to most countries, listing reasonable restrictions under which speech or expression may be banned. However, what these restrictions are and in whose favour they are made are growing issues.

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Gendered Abuse Online

This blog post is eighth in a series of ten blog posts to report on the EROTICS India workshop, recently concluded in Delhi. All the blog posts in this series are written by Richa Kaul Padte, the official rapporteur at the meeting.

So you’ve got proper online security, strong passwords, and great software all good to go. But are there other kinds of threats you may face online? What about abuse, verbal violence and harassment that no firewall or plug-in can prevent?

‘I faced sexual harassment and it was published in [a prominent newspaper], and then it was put up on the Internet. But the kinds of comments that went around Facebook – all kinds of judgements passed upon me. Like, “How can it happen to a man?” or “This person will never do it.” [It’s this] kind of character assassination that takes place.’

‘Ever since we started advocating for sexually education stuff…on our website, I get death threats saying that we are spoiling Indian culture. I keep ignoring, but I wonder if there is a time one should turn around and say something.’

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Wearing a Digital Condom: Staying Safe Online

This blog post is seventh in a series of ten blog posts to report on the EROTICS India workshop, recently concluded in Delhi. All the blog posts in this series are written by Richa Kaul Padte, the official rapporteur at the meeting.

Web browsers. One of the fastest ways to spread viruses is through a web browser, and to prevent this from happening, make sure your browser is as secure as possible. Mozilla Firefox is recommended by many people because it has the most security options, but Google Chrome lovers, fear not – Chrome and Opera both have similar options in their Settings page (And if you’re still on Internet Explorer, well, it’s really time to move on). So once you’ve decided on your browser – or switched to a different one – you can find plug-ins (also called add-ons or extensions, depending on the browser you are using), which are basically features that will work with your browser. Some useful plug-ins to have for your Firefox browser are Ad-Block Plus, No Script, and Better Privacy (these all have Chrome equivalents).

You can also go into the Settings page of your web browser and make sure things like password storing, for example, are turned off.  If you want to check whether a website is safe or not, you can run it through scanners on www.phishtank.com, www.onlinelinkscan.com or www.virustotal.com. If you want to check the reputation of a website, use http://safeweb.norton.com or www.urlvoid.com.

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