La tecnologías digitales han vuelto borrosas algunas de las líneas que creemos dividen lo privado de lo público. Cuando estás en un cibercafé manteniendo un chat con tu novio, ¿es algo público o privado? Cuando publicas algo en Facebook para que sea visto por solo por las personas que forman pare de tu red, ¿es algo privado o público? Cuando te sacas una foto con tu teléfono celular y la envías por MMS a una amiga/o, ¿se convierte en pública porque dejas de tener control sobre cómo la imagen puede seguir circulando? Tú decides qué es público o privado. Marca el límite. Dalo a conocer.

Les technologies numériques ont rendu confuses certaines des lignes dont nous pensons qu’elles fixent les limites entre ce qui est privé et ce qui est public. Lorsque vous êtes dans un cybercafé, en train de clavarder avec votre petit ami, est-ce public ou privé ? Quand vous mettez quelque chose sur Facebook, visible seulement à quelques personnes membres de votre réseau, est-ce privé ou public ? Quand vous prenez une photo de vous-même avec votre téléphone mobile, et l’envoyez par MMS à un ami, cette image devient-elle publique parce que vous perdez contrôle sur comment l’image pourrait continuer à circuler ? Vous décidez de ce qui est public ou privé. Fixez les limites. Faites le savoir.

Digital technologies have blurred some of the lines that we think of as dividing what is private, and what is public. When you are in a cybercafe, having an online chat with your boyfriend, is it public or private? When you put something up on Facebook, to be seen only by people who are in your network, is it private or public? When you shoot a picture of yourself with your mobile phone, and MMS it to a friend, does it become public because you lose control over how the image might continue to be circulated? You decide what is public or private. Draw the line. Make it known.

We are often judged by our appearances. Sometimes what we wear, the way we carry ourselves and even the length or visibility of our hair in particular spaces erases who we are as individuals. We become instead, stereotypes that fit into particular ideas of how women and men should be. Instead of people with different thoughts, opinions, experiences and lives, we become convenient paper dolls that call for certain types of responses. These visual markers do not just run on the lines of gender, they also cut across categories such as ethnicity, sexuality, able-bodiedness, age and more, which is turn shifts according to contexts. Challenge our own stereotypes and the images that perpetuate them. Make an avatar!

Today marks the International Day Against Violence Against Women. Yet, violence against women rarely receives the same kind of collective outrage that comes with other forms of human rights violations, such as the suppression of civil and political rights. We live with the reality of violence against women in our daily lives, almost accepting it as "normal". Every second, a woman or a girl is being abused, violated, harmed, harassed - simply because she's a woman, or a girl. Reject this reality. Start your 16 days of activism Take Back The Tech! campaign by making a clear stand to end violence against women.