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.

Take Back The Tech calls for your support and participation! Join Women'sNet and Girls'Net to keep mobile phone and internet use safe from harassment, bullying and violence. "Keep Your Chats Exactly That!" is a campaign that aims to empower young people in the use of the internet and cell phones. It looks at both strategies of prevention from harassment, bullying and violence, as well as strategies for using ICTs in affirmative ways to advocate for change on issues that concern them.

SMS your tactics, sticker your support & blog about it!