The Take Back the Tech Campaign has been launched in conjunction with the global 16 Days Against Violence Campaign. The Campaign is being used to highlight ways in which technology can be used to either perpetuate or prevent violence against women. For details on how to participate, click here.
A friend of mine had to change her phone number, email addresses and eventually her physical address after being stalked by an ex so the issue is real to me. I’m also concerned about the fact that KBW is not a strong haven for female bloggers like it was in the early days…though natural attrition may account for some of that, I wonder whether self-censorship has played a role in the aftermath of the cyber-stalking accusations that dominated KBW some months ago and the marked discomfort among some readers with women expressing their sexuality.
Hi!
Here I´m browsing through pages concerning blogging and I come across a page about African women bloggers. Great! But alas, it turns out to be one more of those campaigns where African women are victims. In Europe, the victim’ s role is the only social status all Africans have absolut and free access to! In fact, I begin to think it is part of the European culture and identity to have Africans as victims in one form or another. Therefore, one wonders if this all- abunding humanitarianism is not just another form of colonialism-the most personal form of colonialism where the coloniser comes into your home and knows everything about your sex life and all other aspects of your intimate, personal life?
I do not condone violence of any kind. But my question is whether all those samaritans who crawl under our skirts and tell us how to live are not also commiting a certain kind of violence?
So no new reality in this blog either.
It would have been so nice if it was something where African women had started something; a place to talk about themselves, their dreams, strength, challenges and how they overcome them.
But just to be sure, I ask: is this a blog by-and for African women, or is it one more pityingwhite (wo)man shamelessly displaying our sufferings in order to feel superior?
Yours,
An African woman
I think the discomfort in KBW for some women wasnt mostly due to them expressing their sexuality because the KBW member who was harassed didn’t express her sexuality at all. In fact she could have been seen as a prude by some since she was born again.
Women are the majority of KBW members so I guess the more outspoken feminist element may have also looked for other avenues to express themselves outside KBW. There are a large number of Keyan bloggers who are not KBW members.
Isn’t there an African women’s webring or something? I do see roundups of some sort for African women’s blogs.I also think that in some ways KBW is just becoming more homogenised, that is why you may see an absence of a certain kind of blog.
Helen Seiketso@ If you care to search this blog carefully you will find that the majority of people here are Africans. You only have to look at the blog roll – Kenyan Blogs, African Crew; read the archived posts; look at the categories and find out something about the writer and since when does the name Ory Okolloh sound like a European name?
Regarding the post – I think this is positive and is a NEW reality. Technology being used to prevent violence. Radio is being used through stories and plays to highlight violence against women which again is positive. I mean please – you think the women of Africa are just sitting around passively doing nothing about the violence around them and directed at them?
I suggest you try searching a little more and you will find that there are many African women in the blogging world and elsewhere like Ory who are doing the things you mention and more.
Helen Seiketso is plainly right. Parts of what she addresses with justified zeal, have also been touched in the 2nd African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Nairobi this year. Notably in the superb paper by Susie Jolly, one of the best and most brilliant pieces I have ever, EVER read on sexuality in Africa and the development industry. It is freely available on the web.
And yes, Sokari is one of those women contributing to the ongoing victimization of women. There are many worse than you, but you have done your share in cyberspace, too.
Osas
Dear Osas!
Thank you so much for your reply. I will definately look up Susie Jolly´s paper and get back to you all. The question of sexuality and the development industry is an important one to addresse, if only because it is so difficult to attack; what with its being presented thro´ humanitarian missions that are hard to criticise in light of our people´s excruciating poverty.
I have not yet come across any one writing about this, so I really look forward to reading Jolly´s paper. Thanks again, Osas.
Lots of love to you all, Helen
I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in penning this website.
I am hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts from you in the future as well.
In truth, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own, personal blog now 😉