What is digital feminism and how does it address the challenges of a digitized world?
As the Internet revolutionized how we live and understand ourselves, many utopian visions emerged, aspiring to leverage these novel technologies to create a more equitable world. However, as we navigate an increasingly digitized reality, many of these hopes have either dissipated or been distorted by the forces of technocapitalism.
A Digital feminism critically examines the potentials and risks of technological advancements. It underscores the importance of engaging with these technologies to reflect on their role in shaping meaning and reality. It challenges assumptions about their purpose, exposes injustices embedded in their design, and interrogates how oppressive societal structures are reinforced through their use.
This practice seeks to subvert and reimagine technologies, fostering more equitable, livable, and fulfilling ways of coexisting with them.
What principles and practices define dgtl fmnsm’s approach to technology?
The projects undertaken by dgtl fmnsm integrate theoretical and discursive elements with practical application through artistic expression. Drawing inspiration from contemporary technopolitical discourse, our political orientation is rooted in xenofeminism (Laboria Cuboniks), glitch feminism (Legacy Russell), and the cyberfeminist movements of the 1990s, among others.
Our desires are queer and our identities ever-evolving, which is reflected in the ways we work: Dgtl fmnsm operates as a collective and network that not only produces radical, unapologetic artistic positions but also constantly questions and challenges its own ways of working. It strives to transform how knowledge is produced and shared, promoting decentralized, democratic, and generous structures. Within these processes, we create and deconstruct meanings and truths, engaging with technology critically, playfully and creatively.
What visions does dgtl fmnsm promote in the digital age?
Through our work, dgtl fmnsm envisions presents and futures shaped by equity and justice—where tensions are generative and the potential of digital technologies is harnessed for the benefit of the many rather than the profit of a few. We believe digital spaces can not only serve as safer environments for marginalized individuals and communities but can also actively combat injustices.
Our politics advocate for viewing technologies not merely as tools but as social and political instruments. These instruments can either perpetuate existing power dynamics or be used to transform them and it is our responsibility to create the use cases and imaginaries for them that we would like to become reality.
From this perspective, dgtl fmnsm embodies a hybrid form of feminism that translates the struggle for justice into the digital age. It demonstrates that 21st-century feminist discourse is incomplete without critically engaging with and through technologies.
How does a digital feminist practise work?
Technologies are never neutral, their application is always political. Our vision of a digital feminist practise engages with the technologies that shape our every-day lives and is embedded in learning from and with one another. The following is a collection of resources and links that we found helpful for activist work and community building.
Please feel invited to share them with your networks and let us know about any additional resources that we should know about and we’re happy to add them here:
Zusammengestellt und übersetzt von dgtl fmnsm. Eine Sammlung an Guidelines für die respektvolle und achtsame Zusammenarbeit im Team, beispielsweise bei Workshops.
ANTI-OPPRESSIVE FACILITATION FOR DEMOCRATIC PROCESS (EN)
by AORTA anti-oppression resource & training alliance.
By Adrienne Maree Brown
ART+FEMINISM SAFE SPACE/BRAVE SPACE POLICY (EN)
by Art+Feminism.