FIRN Edited Journal Vol. 2 - Researching ourselves: A decolonial feminist analysis of tech-facilitated gender-based violence
This edited journal by FIRN brings together a collection of articles originally published as part of a GenderIT.org edition, aiming to consolidate the insights that emerged from the 10 research projects under the third cycle of FIRN. Under this project, we worked with 10 partners to provide deeper insight into tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). Our partners come from diverse locations across Africa (Ethiopia, South Africa), Asia (India, Tajikistan), Latin America and the Caribbean (Brazil, Uruguay) and Southwest Asia and North Africa (Egypt, Palestine). The network centres Global South voices by deliberately partnering with researchers whose perspectives remain underrepresented in TFGBV research.
Central to the research under FIRN is the conscious and political practice of feminist research methodologies and a deliberate intention to deepen intersectional feminist analysis. Collectively, our research partners contributed to a more situated and intersectional framing of TFGBV by examining how historical contexts and current political and lived realities reinforce the lasting effects of coloniality in our daily experiences and interactions with technology-facilitated violence. Despite contextual differences, the findings illustrate the complexities of TFGBV and how it intersects with hierarchies of identity and belonging, shaped by various geopolitical, nationalist and socioeconomic factors. In doing so, they expose the gaps within dominant discursive framings and institutional responses to TFGBV. The research therefore invites us to shift from decontextualised, institutionally restrictive responses to approaches grounded in communities’ lived realities and attentive to the overlapping, interconnected structural conditions in which violence manifests.
These research projects also demonstrate the importance of understanding communities not solely through their experiences of harm and as victims of violence, but also through their practices of resistance, solidarity and care. In doing so, they move away from simplistic victim-centric narratives toward a better understanding of how technology can both empower and oppress individuals in nuanced ways. The findings produce a critical counter-narrative for historically marginalised communities in diverse contexts – including war zones, genocide, conservative societies, LGBTQIA+ and non-binary/gender-diverse communities, sex workers, Black Brazilian women and Black South African women – framing them as resilient and powerful individuals who have been carving out their own digital spaces despite hostility and violence.
This edited journal is also a celebration of our partners’ achievements. Beyond the research outputs, the research process has become a point of Global South-South feminist connection, a space where communities build solidarity, convene and strategise. It is an act of bringing people together to reflect on, make sense of and respond to the pressing issues of our time. In this sense, feminist research is not merely about documenting existing forms of violence; it is a critical practice through which we challenge historical and ongoing epistemic violence and ultimately work towards livable futures that centre agency, care and participation.
These articles were originally published on GenderIT.org on 10 November 2025.
Reading ourselves: Feminist data analysis and relational praxis
In this editorial, the author reflects on how feminist research is not only about “expertise”; it is a practice of relationality, care and critically engaged meaning-making in connection with the people and movements at the heart of our research.
“Carving out our spaces”: Sharing takeaways from our research on the experiences of Black Brazilian women resisting TFGBV
This article provides an overview of how Black Brazillian women have been carving out their own online spaces, building strategies for resistance, connection and possibility – despite mainstream digital technologies being often laden with racism, sexism, and misogynoir.
“I am drowning under the weight of hatred”: The scope and nature of technology-facilitated gender-based violence in Tajikistan
Set against Tajikistan’s political and social structure, this article highlights how TFGBV exists as a continuum with offline violence, reinforcing patriarchal values and established gender norms that have power over women and are used to control them.
Disinformation, Social Manipulation and Expanded Authoritarian Digital Control in Egypt
Drawing from the research, this article addresses the complex interplay of political, economic and social structures driving state and non-state tech-facilitated violence in Egypt, highlighting its connection to the recent wave of arrests targeting TikTok content creators.
Threads of harm and Ethiopian queer resistance to digital violence
This article weaves together the experience of LGBTQIA+ communities in Ethiopia – how they are impacted by OGBV yet they continue to exist and build community with creativity, resistance and strength.
Gender, Power, and Digital Spaces: Understanding Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence amongst students of South African Higher Institutions
This article highlights the key findings on university students’ understanding and experiences regarding TFGBV on social media and online dating platforms in South Africa.
Feminist digital forensics
As a feminist hacker organisation, MariaLab questions how digital forensics can be used to address TFGBV cases, with the aim of developing feminist helplines through the systematisation and improvement of consensual digital forensics.
Between survival and resistance: Digital rights of sex workers in Uruguay
This article reflects on how the increased digitalisation of sex work has provides opportunities for greater independence and safety, but it also exposes them to violence and surveillance and intensifies precarity by transferring costs and risk onto sex workers.
Witnesses, militants, martyrs: When technology meets borders
In the era of AI-automated annihilation, the authors bring us through the many questions on what and how a truly decolonial act looks like – what sabotaging the tools of colonial genocide and occupation, and embracing limitations as anti-colonial praxis, could look like.
A decolonial feminist exploration of Black women and gender non-conforming people’s experiences of technology-facilitated gender-based violence
The article reveals how Black women and gender non-conforming persons experience TFGBV differently due to historical and geopolitical factors, and how TFGBV is used to silence bloggers and journalists doing feminist works.
iHEAR TransNet: Intersectional experiences of TFGBV among the trans, non-binary and gender diverse communities in India
Adopting an intersectional and participatory approach, this article shares the stories of how transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse people experience TFGBV, what strategies they employ to resist and safeguard themselves, and what barriers exist in accessing support.