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Fungai Machirori, Association for Progressive
Communications

“Whither sex, sexuality, and gender
online.”
The second speaker to give her
lightning talk was Fungai Machirori;
her talk was entitled “Whither sex,
sexuality, and gender online.” Fungai
spoke about how there was a lot of
“moral policing” in the Zimbabwean
internet space, a situation which led
to the shaming mainly of women who
express themselves in a way deemed
contrary to the behaviour of a “good
Zimbabwean woman.” However, the
problem with morals is that they are
subjective and it will therefore be
hard to decide a level or measure
of morality that is acceptable to the
broad spectrum of internet users in
a country as diverse as Zimbabwe.
She also explained how the system
of patriarchy was not prevalent only
among male internet users but among
women as well, and that patriarchy
was any behaviour which put women
down.

17

Misa Zimbabwe Second Internet Governance Multi
Stakeholder Conference 21 September 2017

She discussed none consensual
release or so called “leaking” of sex
tapes and nudes, and how female
subjects in such media are portrayed
by the online public. When such media
is released the woman is invariably
portrayed as “loose” or immoral while
her male counterpart is praised for his
“prowess.” Fungai went on to describe
how the online narrative or portrayal
of women was actually a reflection of
a society’s offline views or opinions.
The projection of offline biases and
prejudices onto online spaces is also
seen in how sexual minorities are
treated online. People who openly
profess to be part of sexual minorities
are usually harassed, and labelled with
derogatory terms.
Plenary contributions held after
Fungai’s talk brought out the point
that issues relating to sex and sexuality

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