Glitch Feminism – Legacy Russell

Glitch Feminism is a challenging “new manifesto for cyber feminism”, one that explores the the relationships between gender, technology, and identity.

It’s a slim little tome, so I was fooled into thinking it was something that could be knocked over in a breezy afternoon: not so! This copy was kindly sent to me by Verso Books (via Bloomsbury) for review.

“Glitch feminism”, as I understand it from Russell’s writing, incorporates new ways of being, becoming, and understanding ourselves in both the digital and corporeal realm.

Russell discourages the use of terms like “real world”, encouraging us to adopt instead “AFK” (away-from-keyboard) to reflect the fact that our online and offline selves no longer exist or operate in isolation. We are to embrace the “glitch”, Russell says, as to malfunction in our identities is to challenge the status quo.

Though Glitch Feminism incorporates art and anecdotes, it’s still very academic in tone – not a beginner’s guide to queer theory, nor a light read. I’m glad to have more insight into the malleability of our identities in the digital era, but probably could have used a primer first…