Fourth Women, Internet, and Technology Encounter: #JuntasEnInternet 

In this post, we want to tell you all about the Fourth Women, Internet, and Technology Encounter: #JuntasEnInternet, which was held from June 12th to June 14th in Mexico City.  

The encounter is a space we celebrate yearly, where women from different parts of the country gather to talk about how we experience the internet, the gender gap, and digital violence, but also, to exchange information, experiences, get to know projects made by women, and create care networks for self-care and collective care. 

This year, we gathered women of all ages and profiles, but all keen on discussing the online and offline gender gap, at Casa Refugio Citlaltépetl, located in Hipódromo Condesa neighborhood, Mexico City; where 71 women from Aguascalientes, Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Monterrey, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, and Yucatán reunited.

On the first day, we started the event with an offering, where every participant introduced herself and offered a representative item of her state or an item linked to feelings or thoughts she wanted to keep through the event.  

Afterwards, during the opening session, Carmen Alcázar and Mariel García talked about the story of Editatona, its impact and learnings, and of course, the obstacles faced by the project in a decade of existence.   

After lunch, Liz Ovalle and Marbet Aguilar introduced us to citizen science and art as a tool to reevaluate and defend the territory through the case study of the Santa Catarina river in Monterrey; a scheme that won battles against megaprojects addressing territorial protection with river tours, flora and wildlife protection, and environmental wellbeing rights and public policies’ disclosure.  

The last workshop of the day was about posture reeducation by Karla Moreno, who showed us different breathing and stretching techniques for people who spend a lot of time in front of screens. This session reminded us of the importance of moving, taking breaks, and listening to our bodies. 

The first-day agenda finished with a toast and snacks that served as a mingling occasion for the participants.  

We kicked off day two with the panel discussion Desafiando los márgenes: mujeres, derecho de autor y la construcción de la cultura libre, in which Alejandra Quiroz, Andrea Quiroz, Natalia Durand, and Gabriela Arévalo who opened up about the advantages and disadvantages of copyright and free culture.  

Afterwards, we had an ice-breaker activity led by Luisa Ortiz from Vita Activa, where we played with space and postures. It was, once again, an invitation to become conscious of our everyday routine. We finished yelling out the feeling we want to experience further on; it was a freeing experience.

Next, we had the Tejer para contener – confección de weight blanket con prendas recicladas workshop, held by María Mota. It was a challenging activity, even though the target was learning how to knit a weight blanket. The activity was a way to reflect on excessive clothing production and consumerism. It invites us to think of the woven fabric as a political tool to knit community, to keep us company, and to let go of everything that goes through our selves, holds us back, and stops us from flowing.  

María gave us the chance to wrap ourselves in her 14-kilogram weight blanket. As described by the participants, “being wrapped in the blanket is like being in my safe place; anxiety was gone, and I felt like home”.

After lunch, we went on with the panel Mediactivismo: narrativas digitales para futuros transfeministas with the participation of Itzel Plascencia, Meztli Sánchez, Raquel Hernández, and Nicole Vivian from Luchadoras, who encouraged us to appreciate the importance of rethinking new internet horizons and possibilities.  

We finished off the day with the Ctrl+Pega: taller de stickers workshop led by Tania Solá and Claudia García. Participants created a collage or an image from magazines, papers, and drawings. The workshop leaders then digitalised and printed out the stickers and handed them to the participants at the end of the event to make a sticker exchange and to intervene a mirror with them.  

The last day started with the Raíces que alivian. Introducción a la herbolaria para la gestión del estrés workshop conducted by Cristina Montejo, who shared with us the benefits of herbs, not only as a healing tool, but as a way to enhance community building. Furthermore, she gave some recommendations on stress relief herbs that can be included in our everyday life and are scientifically backed. We ended the session sharing different infusions.   

Afterwards, Marcela Nochebuena led a panel on Violencia obstétrica y censura en internet, which caused rage, indignation, and recognition amongst participants. We all agreed on the importance of giving visibility and pointing out this type of violence, as well as being supportive of women who have gone through obstetric violence. 

Later on, we had a session to learn how to release images on Wikimedia Commons, guided by Carmen Alcázar, which aroused curiosity amongst women who had not participated in wiki activities previously.  

We finished the activities at Casa Refugio Citlaltépetl with a Brisas Corporales workshop with the assistance of Ana Granados, who talked about depression and anxiety, to then create corporal mists with essences addressing these conditions.  

Then, we closed up with a photographic stroll: Caminar, habitar y fotografiar, an emotional tour thought out as a way to reflect on feminine occupancy, memory, and visibility in the public space. With the guidance of Yolanda Reyes, participants were able to experience and photograph based on the following questions: What am I seeing?, What don’t I want to see?, What exists in the landscape I am seeing?, What can I name for it to exist? 

The activity was very well welcomed since we went on a stroll and at the same time we looked closely at our surroundings, something we don’t do often due to our hasty lives.

We, at Wikimedia México, feel very thankful to all the women who took part in the Fourth Women, Internet, and Technology Encounter: #JuntasEnInternet; for opening up to dialogue, giving recognition, building and reimagining together. 

Without a doubt, this felt like a big heartfelt hug; knowing there are a lot of us, women, resisting from different trenches, envisioning new possibilities, and looking for innovative ways to build new worlds.

You can find more photographs on Wikimedia Commons.