EROTICS: Sex, rights and the internet An exploratory research study APC would like to thank the Ford Foundation for their support of this innovative research. Editor Jac sm Kee Authors Manjima Bhattacharjya Sonia Corrêa Melissa Ditmore Kevicha Echols Maya Indira Ganesh Marina Maria Nicolene McLean Nadine Moawad Relebohile Moletsane Jeanne Prinsloo Tamara Qiblawi Jandira Queiroz Horacio Sívori Bruno Zilli Reviewers Gus Hosein Heike Jensen Pramada Menon Katharine Sarikakis Clarissa Smith Language editor and proofreading Lori Nordstrom Publication production Karen Higgs, Analía Lavin Graphic design MONOCROMO [email protected] Phone: +598 2400 1685 Cover design Ezrena Marwan Reference editing Soledad Bervejillo Álvaro Queiruga EROTICS: Sex, rights and the internet Published by APC 2011 Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence <creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/> Some rights reserved. ISBN 978-92-95096-11-0 APC-201107-WNSP-R-EN-PDF-0102 Table of contents About the authors ................................................................................................... 5 Emerging threads and common gaps: A synthesis ................................................ 6 Brazil Internet regulation and sexual politics in Brazil .................................................. 19 SONIA CORRÊA, MARINA MARIA and JANDIRA QUEIROZ (Sexuality Policy Watch) and BRUNO DALLACORT ZILLI and HORACIO FEDERICO SÍVORI (Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights, CLAM) India Negotiating intimacy and harm: Female internet users in Mumbai .................. 66 MANJIMA BHATTACHARJYA and MAYA INDIRA GANESH Lebanon Who’s afraid of the big bad internet? ............................................................... 109 NADINE MOAWAD and TAMARA QIBLAW South Africa The internet and sexual identities: Exploring transgender and lesbian use of the internet in South Africa ..................................................................... 135 JEANNE PRINSLOO and NICOLENE C. MCLEAN (Rhodes University) and RELEBOHILE MOLETSANE (University of KwaZulu-Natal) United States Restricted access to information: Youth and sexuality ...................................... 176 KEVICHA ECHOLS and MELISSA DITMORE (Sex Work Awareness) About the authors The EROTICS network is comprised of researchers, aca- EROTICS India demics, writers and activists in the fields of sexuality, Maya Indira Ganesh and Manjima Bhattacharjya are sexual rights, and internet and communication rights. independent researchers based in Bangalore and Mumbai. Both have a shared history of working in EROTICS editor and coordinator the Indian women’s movement as researchers and Jac sm Kee is the Women’s Rights Advocacy coordi- activists. Manjima holds a PhD in Sociology from Ja- nator of APC, and heads the EROTICS research and waharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. Maya the Take Back the Tech! global campaign that con- has an MA in Media and Cultural Studies from the nects emerging communications technologies and University of Sussex and works at the Tactical Tech- violence against women. Email: [email protected] nology Collective. EROTICS Brazil EROTICS Lebanon The EROTICS research in Brazil is a collaborative ef- Nadine Moawad and Tamara Qiblawi are writers and fort by Sexuality Policy Watch (SPW), a global forum activists based in Beirut, Lebanon. Nadine is active of researchers and activists, and the Latin American with gender and tech initiatives and has co-founded Center on Sexuality and Human Rights (CLAM), a Nasawiya, a feminist collective. Tamara is a journal- sexuality research regional resource centre. Sonia ist who writes about socioeconomic issues and is Corrêa is the co-chair of SPW and associate research- working on starting up a gender resource centre at er at the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association Nasawiya. (ABIA). Jandira Queiroz is a journalist, LGBT and feminist activist, and project assistant at the Brazilian EROTICS South Africa secretariat of SPW. Marina Maria is a journalist and Jeanne Prinsloo is a professor emeritus affiliated to project assistant at the Brazilian secretariat of SPW. Rhodes University and an independent researcher She is currently doing her Master’s degree in Commu- and lecturer with expertise in the fields of media, nication, Information and Health and is a member of gender, education and identity. Relebohile Mo- APC’s women’s programme (APC WNSP). Bruno Zilli letsane is a professor and JL Dube chair in Rural is a doctoral candidate in Social Sciences and CLAM Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She researcher. Horacio Sívori PhD is an anthropologist. has extensive experience in teaching and research in He is currently regional coordinator at CLAM and the areas of curriculum studies and gender and edu- post-doctoral fellow at the State University of Rio de cation, including gender-based violence and its links Janeiro’s Institute of Social Medicine. to HIV/AIDS and AIDS-related stigma, body politics, Magaly Pazello advised the research team and as well as on girlhood studies in Southern African reviewed the paper. Magaly is a doctoral candidate contexts. Nicolene McLean has recently completed in Social Studies and a member of EMERGE-Research her Master’s in Media Studies at Rhodes University Group for Communications and Emergence at Flu- and is currently lecturing at Cape Peninsula Univer- minense Federal University. She is also a member sity of Technology. Her areas of interest include new of the APC WNSP and was actively involved in both media technology, gender, representation and iden- phases of the World Summit on the Information tity construction. Society. EROTICS USA Melissa Ditmore holds a doctorate in Sociology and a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies. She is a noted scholar of sex work with three books and numerous papers. Kevicha Echols is a doctoral candi- date in the Human Sexuality programme at Widener University. Emerging threads and common gaps: A synthesis JAC SM KEE EROTICS editor and coordinator Introduction needs and priorities are able to express their reali- ties and perspectives without being confined by the Indeed, the Internet has become a key means by sifting powers of institutions such as broadcast- which individuals can exercise their right to free- ing media. “Truth” becomes a dialogic negotiation dom of opinion and expression, as guaranteed by between multiple speakers, where active participa- article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human tion in contested and collective meaning-making is Rights and the International Covenant on Civil made possible. This means that different kinds of and Political Rights. (para. 20) discourses are able to proliferate and norms that The right to freedom of opinion and expression discriminate against or silence marginalised sec- is as much a fundamental right on its own accord tions of society can be challenged and dismantled. as it is an “enabler” of other rights, including It provides an environment where people with economic, social and cultural rights, such as the shared interests and concerns are able to overcome right to education and the right to take part in geographical and other limitations to come together cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scien- and share ideas, provide mutual support, exchange tific progress and its applications, as well as civil information and organise for change. In this way, and political rights, such as the rights to freedom the internet has become an increasingly critical of association and assembly. Thus, by acting as a public sphere for the claiming of citizenship rights catalyst for individuals to exercise their right to and civil liberties. For those who have little access to 2 freedom of opinion and expression, the Internet other kinds of “publics” due to the multiple forms also facilitates the realization of a range of other of discrimination faced – including based on gender, human rights. (para. 22) age, economic status and sexual identity – it can be a REPORT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR particularly important space for the negotiation and ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT fulfillment of their rights. TO FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION, However, this landscape is rapidly changing. The FRANK LA RUE, 16 MAY 2011, A/HRC/17/27 internet is subjected to increasing forms of regula- tion by both state and non-state actors, with existing What is the value of the internet in the fulfilment of unequal power structures inflecting the deliberation. rights? The rapid development and growth of internet From managing critical internet resources, to inter- access and services in the past two decades indicate its governmental cooperation in cyber crime issues, the central role in many aspects of our lives. Much more question of who governs the internet, under what than a tool, we have formed relationships, gained principles, and to whose interests becomes a shared new knowledge, engaged in debate, sought income, critical concern. Central to this is the debate on inter- participated in culture and more in online spaces. The net content regulation. The free flow of information internet’s potential to revitalise democratic delibera- and communication that acts as the cornerstone tion1 and to transform hierarchical power structures to the potentially liberatory impact of the internet lies in its unique characteristics that allow immedi- has become a subject of intense scrutiny and inter- ate transmission of communication and information vention.3 Multiple interests and discourses intersect across geographical