- apologies for cross-posting – Gendered violence online: a scholarly ‘slam’ Dear colleagues This is a call for expressions of interest for participants for an experimental, workshop-based symposium on gendered cyberhate to be held on Friday July 7, 2017, in Sydney, Australia. The event will be staged in an off-campus (and also an off-beat) setting and will be hands-on rather than presentation-based. It aims to bring academics, policy makers, police, platform managers, gendered cyberhate targets, and other stakeholders together in working groups to formulate potential responses to the problem of misogyny online. The event has three key aims: 1) to steer the conversation about gendered cyberhate away from identifying problems and critiquing existing structures, and towards modes of intervention; 2) to avoid potentially unhelpful ‘knowledge silos’ by facilitating interdisciplinary dialogue, as well as discussion between scholars and non-scholars; and 3) to formulate – and disseminate – potential solutions to misogyny online which are novel and innovative, yet also informed and feasible. Those interested in attending are asked to please send a 200-word expression of interest to emma.jane@unsw.edu.au <mailto:emma.jane@unsw.edu.au> by February 28, 2017. This should explain your area of expertise as well as your reasons for wishing to attend. For more information, visit: http://www.cyberhateproject.unsw.edu.au/ <http://www.cyberhateproject.unsw.edu.au/> Many thanks Emma A. Jane Senior Research Fellow, School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia http://emmajane.info/ <http://emmajane.info/> https://sam.arts.unsw.edu.au/about-us/people/emma-a-jane/ <https://sam.arts.unsw.edu.au/about-us/people/emma-a-jane/> BACKGROUND Rape threats and other forms of gendered violence have become increasingly prevalent <http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2015/cyber_violence_gender%20report.pdf?v=1&d=20150924T154259> online. Problematic practices include mob pile-ons, cyberstalking, and revenge porn (that is, the uploading of sexually explicit material – usually of a former female partner – without the consent of the pictured subject). While the problem of gendered cyberhate has received a high level of international media coverage, arguably little progress has been made in terms of identifying and implementing workable solutions. Indeed, police, policy makers, and platform operators have received harsh criticism for failing to adequately support the female targets of cyberviolence. The aim of this symposium is to move beyond critique and to stimulate discussion about potential interventions. This event will bring together a diverse range of scholars and stakeholders with the aim of stimulating conversation between people who might not otherwise spend a day chatting with each other. The format is experimental, and is designed to be challenging for participants. The rationale is that it is easy for us to occupy professional and personal echo chambers in which we find ourselves talking mostly to people with whom we share views, and paradigmatic ways of looking at and making sense of the world (that is, within various online and offline versions of ‘filter bubbles'). While participants in this event may find themselves outside their academic/professional comfort zones, we will have the symposium equivalent of safe words! Also, the word on the street is that the food is going to be f a n t a s t i c ....