Feminist Hackerspaces

From P2P Foundation
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Description

Christina Haralanova and Sophie Toupin:

"A movement of feminist and social justice-oriented hackerspaces has made itself visible in different parts of the world, more precisely in Australia, Europe and now on the West Coast of the United States. These spaces rely and are founded on specific feminist principles in order to counter patriarchy and other forms of oppression." (http://dpi.studioxx.org/en/no/29-The-Montreal-Issue/femhack-feminism-and-hacking-converge-montreal-tech-collective)


Example

  • Foulab Montreal HackerSpace – A Place to Meet, Learn and Do-It-Yourself: The name is a mixture of English and French, taken ‘Fou’ from Foulab and ‘Fem’ from femmes = fr. woman/women. [1]


See also:

  1. Miss Despoinas Critical Engineering Space in Tasmania (created in 2008), [2]
  2. Mz Baltazar's Laboratory in Vienna (2008-2009), [3]
  3. Liberating Ourselves Locally in Oakland (2012), [4]
  4. Mothership Hackermoms in Berkley (2012), [5]
  5. Seattle Attic in Seattle (2013), [6]
  6. Flux in Portland (2013) [7]
  7. Double Union in San Francisco (2013). [8]

Discussion

Christina Haralanova and Sophie Toupin:

The rapid spread of hackerspaces in Europe and North America in the past decade has opened new possibilities for technologically apt and curious individuals to practice and experiment with technology in informal and unconventional ways. Regardless of their location and despite commonly approved principles of openness, hackerspaces in general have a hard time attracting and retaining individuals such as women, people of colour, and gender non-conformists - in other words, individuals representing minorities in the field of technologies today.

Even if there are fewer women than men invested in technology and hacking in general, there are those who have joined the numerous hackerspaces and geek communities around the world. They have created venues for feminists to practice learning technology on their own terms, rather than in competitive ways offered by their cis-male peers. Their obvious interests coincide with those of cis-men in the field: to hack the gadgets and machinery around them, and use their skills to repair, repurpose and adapt items to their personal needs. A movement of non-mainstream hackers, makers and geeks has started, in particular those with interests in feminist activism and social justice, aiming to rethink the concept of openness at the core of the hackerspace project and adapt it to their gender and intersectional struggles.

Feminist hackerspaces attempt to counter experiences of patriarchy and other forms of oppression including sexual harassment and humiliation, as well as racism or micro-aggressions against minorities. They are also founded in an attempt to create spaces where feminist hackers, makers and geeks set the boundaries of their own space from the outset, enabling the development of a new culture that is more attuned to feminist and intersectional principles based on acknowledging and challenging privileges, creating safe spaces for learning and sharing, putting together collective women’s rights projects, etc ... " (http://dpi.studioxx.org/en/no/29-The-Montreal-Issue/femhack-feminism-and-hacking-converge-montreal-tech-collective)