ABSTRACT
“Thank you for leaving all your good advice at the door.” This is a motto one would encounter upon entering the premises of ASPEKT, the oldest feminist organization in Slovakia, founded in 1993 a few years after the fall of the Communist regime. The motto, being half playful and half serious, refers to ASPEKT’s early history when the organization’s projects and initiatives expanded outside the region and the members started to cooperate with foreign feminist organizations and activists. While most of them approached ASPEKT with open arms and minds aiming toward cooperation and mutual enrichment, some feminists came with ready-made suggestions that were well-intended but didn’t really reflect the specific historical and cultural experiences of Slovak and Czech feminism. ASPEKT members’ response to such advice was that they too strive for gender equality, but their strategies, projects, and tools are distinctive and unique. In another words, that all those coming should leave their “good advice” at the door. This emphasis on autonomy, uniqueness, and specific context is something ASPEKT cherishes to this day, and it is also deeply embedded in a way the organization approaches digital technologies and new media, a global phenomenon that significantly influenced the way social movements, organizations, and activists operate. This chapter adopts a similar approach and focuses on the relation between two global forces – digital technologies and feminism – through a local and historically specific perspective.
