A Cyberfeminist Approach

When I talk about my thesis I often say I am taking a cyberfeminist approach to Web 2.0, and I think this is most often misunderstood. While this does mean looking at the web through a feminist lens, it also means much more than that.

So here is a brief description of what a cyberfeminist approach means to me.

Step 1: Know your product.
Ask the big questions – what is it? who says so? Who uses it? who doesn’t? why? what is different about it? Why is it special? What is not so great? To whom does it give a voice? Whom does it silence? What privilege is inherent in the medium?

Step 2: Engage
After all "cyberfeminism is not using words without any knowledge of numbers" so it is crucial to a cyberfeminist approach to not only be familiar with the theory, but to get in there and use the technology.

Step 3: Hack
While the term hacker (in the media at least) usually refers to an elite and mischievous computer programmer, I use the term in a broader sense as a person who, when not content with a system or a process, will actively seek to change and redefine said system. To me hacking means taking everyday things and changing them so they work for you. Cornelia Sollfrank gives a good definition of this in her lecture women hackers as “One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations… to generalise, one could say that hacking is all about learning and free inquiry”. I am also fond of Jon Ippolito’s description of techno art as "Creative misuse of technology".

Step 4: Play
Play is an important part of a cyberfeminist approach because "cyberfeminism is not boring!" The playful use of both irony and art have been inextricable from cyberfeminist theory since its very inception.

Step 5: Share
"Cyberfeminism is not a single woman", not is it "without connectivity". Communication, networking and collaboration are key cyberfeminist principles.

So in a nutshell what I mean by taking a cyberfeminist approach is to fully engage with the web in both theory and practice, creatively misusing it in a deliberate and playful fashion, while all the while collaborating, communicating and sharing the experience.