Hello! I'm @busydot and I am part of @povmumbai, a feminist non-profit in #Mumbai. We work at the intersection of gender sexuality and digital technology, and today I'm going to tweet about data through a feminist lens.
@busydot @povmumbai So much to say, so little time. :) I'm going to dive deep into looking at how women's bodies have become part and parcel of digital data collection and processing. Think menstrual apps, period trackers, fertility apps, pregnancy apps.
@busydot @povmumbai In her @deepdives essay, Data Bleeding Everywhere, @nuqsh explores period trackers from the perspectives of women and girls using them. It's a fascinating exploration and here's what she finds. deepdives.in/data-bleeding-…
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh First, that menstrual apps are really useful, specially since we shy away from talking about #menstruation in so many cultures. (Dirty. Taboo.) Or about our bodies, our desires, our sexualities.
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh As she writes: "It was only when Rimsha installed Eve on the smartphone she got on her 14 birthday that she realised the cramps and mood swings during her period were not related to an undetected illness." [Eve is a period tracker.]
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh Rimsha says: ‘It was a relief to read that cramps are normal and find out that other people are also angry and emotional during periods...my best friend didn’t experience any of that and had the smoothest periods ever. So I just thought that something was wrong with me.’
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh It's fascinating, isn't it, that a device, a smartphone, validated Rimsha's feelings - by giving her information and data. In return, dear Eve took her data, perhaps without her realizing this, or the implications of this.
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh So what is the data that's going out from women and girls using period trackers? It's a long list: There's basic information: height, weight and relationship status. There’s general health information: cycle length, period length/ regularity, nature and history of birth control.
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh And a whole bunch more, but you get the drift. Here's a bunch of other questions that Eve asks: "Did you get some?" Writes @nuqsh: "You can choose your response from various options: with condom, without condom, banana free, makeout sesh, all me and nope." 
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh How much information is too much information? How much data is too much data? Why is my menstrual period being quantified? Do getting data-based prompts about sex take away the fun from sex? So many questions. Such little time.
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh A few years back @daliaothman and Vanessa Rizk studied the data collection models of menstrual apps. They looked at the business models - how is such data used? They also looked at what the company says is done with the data that's collected.
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman Here's what they found: "The amount of data and metadata collected by these applications has allowed for the quantification of women's bodies on a scale not evident anywhere before."
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman As they say: "What does this mass quantification of women's bodies mean for the creation of new normals, new standards for reproductive and gynecological indicators based only on those women who have access to these apps, and those who bother to use them?"
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman In other words, are data-collecting apps now going to define norms around menstruation, sex, fertility, health etc? What does that mean for our autonomy, our self-determination?
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman It's a fascinating study and I urge you to read it at: thefreelibrary.com/Quantifying+fe…. The full name is Quantifying fertility and reproduction through mobile apps: a critical overview by Dalia Othman and Vanessa Rizk.
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman In another feminist take on data, @CodingRights examines the same phenomenon in a delightfully cheeky and beautifully illustrated essay titled: Menstruapps - how to turn your period into money (for others) chupadados.codingrights.org/en/menstruapps…
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman @CodingRights It's one of my all-time favourites, both in terms of its aesthetics and its politics. And its writing. "We have monitored menstrual cycles for as long as uteruses have been uteruses" is the delicious start of this essay.
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman @CodingRights As the essay points out: "The dominant narrative behind these health apps is that of the ‘quantified-self’ movement, which promotes the idea that increased digital monitoring leads to a better life...". But does it? Does more data necessarily mean more better life?
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman @CodingRights "Using a menstruapp means telling the app regularly if you went out, drank, smoked, took medication, got horny, had sex, had an orgasm and in what position, what your poop looked like, if you slept well, if your skin is clear, how you feel..." Bye bye #privacy!
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman @CodingRights There are huge huge implications of such data collection - for our bodies, selves, lives, personhood, autonomy, decision-making and what not. Have our bodies become data? as @anjakovacs and others have asked?
@busydot @povmumbai @deepdives @nuqsh @DaliaOthman @CodingRights @anjakovacs And how can we use a feminist lens to - #datafeminism - to take back the power? I'm going to end this thread here (although I could go on forever). Thank you so much EPW, for giving me this opportunity. More at our Friday panel!
