The ambition of a Southeast Asia (SEA) transnational feminist tech collective started ten years ago with a group of feminists wanting meaningful collective action and solidarity at a time when online gender-based violence (OGBV) was still at the periphery of human rights discourse, more so when it was voices from Southeast Asia. Today, technology facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) remains alarmingly prevalent and it is exacerbated by rapid digitalisation and datafication of societies, rising inflation and fragile economies, and shrinking civic spaces.
Persistence challenges in addressing TFGBV
Numerous challenges persist at the global and national levels even with TFGBV formally recognized as a human rights violation under CEDAW General Recommendation 35 and recently, during the Sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67), in October 2022, where TFGBV was addressed by the expert group. Efforts to eliminate and respond to TFGBV are often encountered with several issues. These include challenges in recognising and categorising TFGBV, inadequate implementation at local and national levels, and reactionary, misguided, paternalistic and punitive responses, which also do not consider the well-being and healing of survivors. In Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, even though done on a small scale and with limited communities, there exists research to understand the forms and impacts of TFGBV. The foundational studies on nature and dynamics are largely overlooked in the other Southeast Asia countries, and in Myanmar, the prevalence of TFGBV in conflict settings is not properly understood. A recent report led by UN Women states that key knowledge gaps for comparable, reliable data on the prevalence, forms, impact and drivers of TFGBV across different global regions and social intersections can hamper delivery of effective response and prevention programmes.
Nationalism tied to TFGBV
TFGBV is also happening alongside the resurgence of right-wing nationalism and political polarisation, which have contributed to the legitimisation of misogyny and anti-gender, anti-rights rhetoric. States in Southeast Asia share ethno-religious aspiration to preserve the purity of their respective nations, underlined by the anti-colonial sentiment, where the sense of nationhood is constructed through a moralistic idea of a nation and appended to a certain identity. Implicit in this is the contention that human rights and feminism are imported colonial ideologies that are incompatible with SEA values and nationhood. Against this context, relegations of feminism, gender equality and sexual diversity to the realm of otherwise has proven to be an important weapon to maintain the “authentic nationalists” were the chosen religion, ethnicity and gender would remain supreme, unchallenged and uneroded by outside influence. In many cases, the manifestation of TFGBV is a continuation of nationalist rhetoric that is masculinist, misogynist, homophobic and radically patriarchal, which legitimise violence and aligns with authoritarian government strategy to divide and rule towards sustaining their political power and influences.
Techno-authoritarian and TFGBV
A growing body of research has also illustrated that the fundamental design of tech platforms to maximise online engagement are, ironically, exacerbating polarisation and divisiveness of perspectives through constant streaming of bias-nurturing and belief-affirming information. This includes its participation in inciting hate and genocide against Rohingya in Myanmar in 2017.
Such an environment has significantly heightened the vulnerability of women and queer and gender diverse people in SEA, which are deemed to be inferior, illegitimate and foreign to the nation. Although tech companies had put in a significant number of efforts and resources into removing hateful and extremist content, the same cannot be said to their inadequate moderation of non-English, gendered and regional contents. And lately, with Meta’s decision to terminate its fact-checking programme in alignment with Trump’s presidency, it signifies a further slide into techno-authoritarianism that favours and benefits the far-right rhetoric and propaganda.
Forward
With the growing traction globally on TFGBV, we recognise that it could not be more timely and strategic for the formalisation of MATA SEA, a Southeast Asia transnational feminist tech collective. As more actors come together to understand and unpack TFGBV in a rapidly digitizing world, MATA SEA aims to ensure that the nuanced and intersecting experiences of people in Southeast Asia is reflected in the making of a safer digital and on-ground space for all. The Collective will undertake data-driven research, safer technology reimagination, engagement with local communities, practitioners, and policy actors, annual convenings and frequent exchange online between members, participation in key events around gender-based violence and digital rights and policy, knowledge sharing and translation through policy briefs, learning documents, articles, visuals and social media content. Through these activities, and by fostering collaboration across borders and disciplines, MATA SEA will highlight critical feminist perspectives from Southeast Asia towards rebuilding technology that is just, inclusive, and feminist, grounded in the experiences and needs of the community, and enables the voices of marginalized communities to influence policy and advocacy.
MataSEA 