EROTICS South Asia Exploratory Research: Sex, Rights and the Internet

EROTICS South Asia Exploratory Research: Sex, Rights and the Internet

EROTICS South Asia exploratory research: Sex, rights and the internet EROTICS South Asia exploratory research: Sex, rights and the internet ://EROTICS ://Sex,EROT rights and theI inteCrSnet Sex, rights and the internet EROTICS South Asia exploratory research: Sex, rights and the internet Sexual Rights in thSee xSuoauthel Rigahtsts As ia in the Southeast Asia EROTICS South Asia exploratory research: Sex, rights and the internet Authors Bishakha Datta, Smita Vanniyar, Jasmine Lovely George, Neha Mathews, Rachel Bali, Zahra Adamjee Indu Nepal, Jyotsna Maskay, Shiwa Karmacharya, Shaun Kirven, P.M. Deshapriya, J.M. Mendis Shermal Wijewardene, Subha Wijesiriwardena, hvale vale Peer reviewers Horacio F. Sívori, Shaun Kirven, Jyotsna Maskay, Shiwa Karmacharya, Sanchia Brown, Sepali Kottegoda Gayatri Khandhadai, Shaun Kirven, Jennifer Radloff, Namita Aavriti, Sara Baker, hvale vale Editor: Katerina Fialova Copy editing and proofreading Lynne Stuart Lynn Welburn Lori Nordstrom (APC) Publication production Cathy Chen and Lori Nordstrom (APC) Graphic design MONOCROMO Cover design Cathy Chen (APC) EROTICS South Asia exploratory research: Sex, rights and the internet Published by APC 2017 Creative Commons Licence ISBN: 978-92-95102-93-4 APC-201712-WRP-R-EN-DIGITAL-283 This research is part of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) project “Building EROTICS Networks in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka”, funded by AmplifyChange, and is based on a strong alliance with our partners in the three countries: Point of View (India), LOOM (Nepal) and Women and Media Collective (Sri Lanka). Between November 2016 and July 2017, APC carried out multi-country research exploring the information and communications technology (ICT) legal, policy and socio-cultural landscape related to sexuality on the internet in Nepal and Sri Lanka, and how Indian law constructs “digital obscenity”. This publication is the result of the final reports from that research project. To read more on this subject, please visit erotics.apc.org or www.genderIT.org EROTICS (Exploratory Research on Sexuality and ICTs) is a global network of activists, academics and organisations working on sexuality issues including LGBTIQ rights, sex work, sex education, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence, in addition to internet freedom advocates, policy experts and techies. The objective of the network is to promote inter-movement collaboration on sexual rights and internet rights, highlight technology-related violations against sexual rights activists, and build their capacity in the design, usage and governance of the internet. Table of contents Introduction In plain sight: On sexuality and the internet in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka .................................................................................................................. 5 hvale vale Country research India Guavas and genitals: A research study ................................................................................... 16 (Lead researcher: Bishakha Datta; Researchers: Smita Vanniyar, Jasmine Lovely George, Neha Mathews, Rachel Bali, Zahra Adamjee) Point of View (POV) Nepal The internet and sexual expression: Exploring the use of the internet among gender equality and sexual rights advocates in Nepal ............................................. 50 (Author: Indu Nepal, Research coordinator: Shubha Kayastha, Research assistants: Gyanu Gurung, Shiwa Karmacharya) Online violence against women: A continuum of offline discrimination ........................... 73 (Authors: Jyotsna Maskay and Shiwa Karmacharya, Shaun Kirven) LOOM Sri LankA Virtually queer: Human rights of LGBTIQ Sri Lankans in the online space .................................................................................................................. 81 (Authors: P.M. Deshapriya and J.M. Mendis) Lesbian women and their use of the online space ............................................................. 115 (Authors: Shermal Wijewardene and Subha Wijesiriwardena) Women and Media Collective (WMC) In plain sight: On sexuality, rights and the internet in India, nepal and Sri lanka by hvale vale EROTICS is an exploration of the internet and its this meeting were part of the first iteration of the multi-layered relationship with sexuality, rights and EROTICS global network that had led research on sexual expression, and is a space/place of practices sexuality in seven countries. The questions raised and a network of people which started in 2008. at the meeting were: What does it take to create Its purpose was and is to look into the obscure, a feminist internet? Is a feminist internet possible? How has the internet shifted the way we understand the unexpected and the obvious. The internet is power, politics, activism and agency?3 There was a a fast-paced world, known for accelerations but need felt to have a political compass around the in- also broken links, unfinished architectures, truly a ternet, on how to use and share, to build upon while network of networks. Nine years could sound like contributing to movement building, proposing leg- a long-term research project, but actually it is only islation, creating new narratives. enough to just land somewhere. In 2015 a second convening4 expanded the Femi- On the internet, features and products appear, nist Principles of the Internet after an intense year disappear, come and go unnoticed and are forgot- of local conversations, suggestions, insights. The ten, but learning the machine is different. Learning EROTICS network participated again, bringing its the machine is understanding how the machine we spirit, knowledge, evidence and practices. The con- are all in and out of at the same time, learns about versation deepened and five clusters grouped 17 us. And who are we? Because we are many, really principles: access, movement, economy, expression many, yet still there are more in the immediate vi- and agency, which in 2017 during the third Making cinity of the machine unable to input as they wish, a Feminist Internet meeting became embodiment. while fascinated by and signified within and by the One of the elements of any political vision is the machine itself. perspective, the space/place or the location from where we look at and interrogate the world. Rosi Braidotti, in her Nomadic Subjects, talks about “a A feminist framework at the intersection sustainable modern subjectivity as one in flux, never of the internet with sexuality and rights opposed to a dominant hierarchy yet intrinsically How to make sense of what we experience? How other, always in the process of becoming, and per- petually engaged in dynamic power relations both to use evidence to transform? Which frameworks creative and restrictive.”5 This becomes important to use? And why a feminist framework? The first, in today’s world dominated by those living in the most simple and direct answer would be: Why not?! global North. What it underlines is that embodi- EROTICS work fits within the Feminist Principles of ment is not merely a theoretical or rhetorical device, the Internet, which want to “provide a framework but an important element of lived experiences and for women’s movements to articulate and explore our shared politics. Quoting bell hooks in Feminist issues related to technology and to offer a gender Theory: From Margin to Center: and sexual rights lens on critical internet-related rights.”1 Living as we did – on the edge – we developed In 2014 the Association for Progressive Commu- a particular way of seeing reality. We looked nications Women’s Rights Programme (APC WRP) brought together 52 women’s rights, sexual rights and internet rights activists from six continents in 3 Fascendini, F. (2014, 14 April). Panel on “Power, Politics and 2 Agency” to #imagineafeministinternet. GenderIT.org. https:// Malaysia to #imagineafeministinternet. Many at www.genderit.org/feminist-talk/panel-power-politics-and- agency-imagineafeministinternet 1 www.feministinternet.net 4 https://www.genderit.org/edition/three-key-issues-feminist- 2 Fascendini, F. (2014, 14 April). What does it take to create internet-access-agency-and-movements feminist internet? GenderIT.org. https://www.genderit.org/ 5 Braidotty, R. (1994). Nomadic Subjects. Columbia University feminist-talk/what-does-it-take-create-feminist-internet Press. 5 InTROduCTIOn EROTICS South Asia exploratory research FIGURE 1. Gender at work framework what are we trying to change? from both the outside in and the inside out. We attitudes that perpetuate gender discrimination focused our attention on the center as well as on the internet (the upper left-hand quadrant). the margin. We understood both. This mode of Firstly, there is the power of the internet to track seeing reminded us of the existence of a whole and change the attitudes of those who actively universe, a main body made up of both margin promote or enable gender discrimination, both and center.6 online and offline; secondly, there are the atti- tudes of women themselves, who can encoun- It is a quote that resonates with understanding the ter both empowerment and disempowerment internet – where margins and centre are revolving within the power of the internet.9 because of very complex and intrinsic relationships. Research can be approached in different ways Understanding and recognising the existence of and with different purposes. If the purpose is trans- hidden normative experiences at individual and formation, then it is important to set the ground. A collective level is necessary

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