How crucial is anonymity for sexual exploration and promoting sexual rights activism

While the debate around anonymity rarely gets seen from a feminist angle, women go through this feeling of being watched online and offline every day of their lives. It happens so often and so persistently that it has increasingly become synonymous to the experience of being a woman. It is no wonder then that the Feminists Principles of the Internet vocally advocate that “It is our inalienable right to choose, express, and experiment with our diverse sexualities on the internet. Anonymity enables this.” With the right to anonymity and a relevant right to be forgotten comes the tragic part of security and harassment under the wrap of anonymity. This complexity of creating an anonymous digital world while not enabling the harassers, hackers, or blackmailers is what makes the debate around anonymity important for internet governance. And this was part of the debate that took place during the panel titled “Anonymity by design: Protecting while connecting” at the Internet Governance Forum in Turkey.