Stalking moves like water, from offline to online and back again. Many young girls and queer people face it as a real threat in their lives, from family and “friends” to the general online public who just may not like what they post online, or take an obsessive interest in their content and their lives.
Online stalking also isn’t as simple as a few unwanted DMs online. It’s a series of targeted threats and harassment that makes young girls, women and queer people unable to access physical spaces (like universities and schools, study groups or offices) and digital pockets (social media platforms, online groups, chat applications). It restricts their joy and autonomy of movement as well as expression.
In the current global context, it is also inevitably tied to the realities of war and technology for so many of us. Technology and AI being used to create targets out of humans, stalking their movements, as well as women human rights defenders facing the realities of being stalked by vested interests – including the state and corporate greed – for their critical advocacy and generational work.
It is a cascading phenomenon that revolves around the axes of domination that underpin the hegemonic structures of the world, and the acceptance of such gender-based violence flowing from decision making around war and greed to interpersonal relationships between human beings within community spaces.
To resist and disrupt this reality – to take back the tech – we lean into the Feminist Tech Gardens (at the 15th AWID Forum) where we participate in collectively nurturing and reclaiming the digital and technological space with solidarity, hope and resistance. We celebrate the playfulness, experimentation and deep connection that feminist technology brings (and has brought) to its users, practitioners and designers. We also believe that – as embodied by such a space – sharing knowledge, experiences and stories helps us chart our collective resistance better.
In such an environment, this 16 Days of Activism 2024 campaign by Take Back The Tech! emphasises the revolutionary potential of solidarity with each other to help us through these many realities – stepping in to help a friend: whether it’s by lending a phone, reaching out for resources on an untampered device, prioritising someone’s ask of guarding their privacy by not sharing information, or lending a supportive, listening ear throughout varied experiences of stalking.
For more information about this year's 16 Days of Action campaign, visit the Take Back the Tech! website.