Where is Feminism in Cyberfeminism

Abstract

This paper reflects on the significance of the discussions that took place during the First Cyberfeminist International (Kasel, Germany, September 20-28, 1997) and the implications both for the attempts to define, and the arguments against defining, cyberfeminism. The text tackles the question of how to define (or avoid to define) “cyberfeminism” in the context of its relationship with the history of past feminist thinking and practices. The paper calls for a closer contact with the history of feminism in order both to avoid past mistakes and also appeal to wider groups of women in the technological circuit. The anti-theoretical attitude of movements like Cybergrrl-ism or different kinds of net utopianism actually undermines its potential to challenge the patriarchal status quo. A conscious attitude of self-definition can help the forming cyberfeminism to establish a crucial solidarity with transnational feminist and postcolonial initiatives in order to be able to exert an effective political position.