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In the early years of the popular internet, in the spirit of Donna Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto (1985), many theorists then called “cyberfeminists” were optimistic about its potential for women’s liberation (Plant 1998, Spender 1995). This came as part of a broader wave of optimism about the information age and its democratic and economic potential (Wellman 1988, Castells 1996, Negroponte 1995, Kelly 1998). While a significant body of critical literature emerged in response to what was seen as a utopian narrative in general (Van Zoonen 2001, Henwood 2003, Barbrook and Cameron 1995), much of this early utopian and cyberfeminist fervour has seen a re- emergence in popular political and cultural discussion again in recent years, with the Arab Spring, framed as a series of social media revolutions, the emergence of the internet-centric Occupy movement, “hacktivism” and the explosion of online feminism (Penny 2013, Mason 2011). However, along with this renewed feminist optimism, there had...
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