EroTICs: An exploratory research project into sexuality and the internet

What is “harmful content” on the internet? The definition is contestable, subjective and open to a range of interpretations, and the majority of interventions to combat it are mostly concerned with obscenity and child pornography. Sexual rights workers are troubled by the growing role of conservative forces - supported by religious extremists - and their attempts to encourage new legislation that would treat all online sexual exchanges as sexual predation and all adult content on the internet as pornography. This protectionist approach overshadows other important aspects of the internet that directly impact on internet users' lives and their ability to access to vital information on sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights. EroTICs, an exploratory research just starting at APC, aims to narrow the gap between political assumptions and a better understanding of content and “harm” based on women’s real experience of sexuality online.

Starting in 2005 the APC’s women’s programme (APC WNSP) began to investigate issues related to sexuality and the internet especially in the context of content regulation and women's communication rights. EroTICs, a two-and-a-half year research project taking place from 2008 to 2010, will conduct cross-country research to answer the question:

How may the emerging debates and the growing practice of regulation of online content either impede or facilitate different ways women use the internet and the impact on their sexual expression, sexualities and sexual health practices, and assertion of their sexual rights?

Or expressed differently: In what ways do internet and ICT policy shape the sexual practices of women living in different socio-political, economic and cultural contexts?

The complex nature of the topic meant tackling the research from two directions:

• Online practices and internet use in select digital spaces, and how they affect notions of sexuality rights in society at large.
• The impact of regulatory policies and censorship practices on sexualities, sexual health and sexual rights.

The study population

We will be focussing on networks, communities and groups working online in awareness-raising, advocacy and service provision involving the advancement of sexual rights and sexual health and sexual education. We will pay particular attention to communities at the margins of sexual rights. These groups are key stakeholders to content regulation debates because they are most invested in the continued capacity to access, shape and define the purposes and accessibility of the internet. From here, we have identified two specific groups: young people focusing on young women and girls, (one of the most visible named groups identified in content regulation interventions) and lesbian, bisexual or queer women (as one of the typically most invisible sections of society).

When looking at sexual rights and their expression, we will also target online platforms like Facebook, Orkut, Second Life and online spaces of sexual expression and socialising, such as message boards, online chat rooms, “closed” and “open to public” mailing lists, blogs and personal ad websites (e.g. sites for mail-order brides, websites to get a partner or have sexual affairs).

The national studies

Rather than aiming for balanced global representation, we are selecting countries that can demonstrate the conditions that we want to investigate including high rates of access, extent of internet filtering practices, the availability of research partners and the prevalence of public debates on sexual rights issues. The countries currently identified are:

Africa: South Africa
Asia: India
Arab region: Lebanon
Latin America: Brazil
North America/Europe: USA

EroTICs research teams

• Brazil: Sonia Onufer Corrêa, Marina Maria Ribeiro Gomes da Silva and Jandira Queiroz e Cavalcanti (Sexuality Policy Watch) and Bruno Dallacort Zilli, Horacio Federico Sívori and Anna Paula Uziel (Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights)
• India: Manjima Bhattacharjya and Indira Maya Ganesh (independent reserchers)
• Lebanon, with a comparative component with Egypt: Nadine Moawad (independent researcher)
• South Africa. Researchers: Jeanne Prinsloo, Relebohile Moletsane and Nicolene C. McLean (Rhodes University, Grahamstown)
• USA: Melissa Hope Ditmore and Kevicha Echols (Sex Work Awareness)

Read more about the background to the EroTICs project.