Challenging and reinforcing dominant myths: Transnational feminists use the internet to contest the war on terrorism

Abstract

Since its use at the Fourth World Conference in Beijing in 1995, feminists have been discussing the Internet’s potential to “link women worldwide” (Bautista 1995). Its ability to facilitate the speedy transfer of information across borders, circulate urgent calls for action, respond in “real time” to international events, and create links between activists in various countries make it an important tool for transnational feminism. Arguments that a global women’s movement is impossible without the Internet, or that the Internet allows feminists to “work together in more cooperative, cross cultural ways than ever before” push feminists to examine more closely the potential of this technology for feminist politics (Whaley 1996). Since the Internet can provide the tools to foster solidarity, exchange information, build coalitions around global issues, and strengthen local organizing, it is a technology that can-in theory-weave a World Wide Web of feminists committed to addressing the effects of power on diverse groups of women. According to Jenny Radloff and Sonja Boezak, “the use of electronic spaces is an example of how women are stretching the boundaries and divides that allow them to network, organize and change the world” (Womenspace 2000). As such, the Internet provides important opportunities for transnational feminists to challenge the oppression of women.