EDIT: bumping this up to 4 stars, as it has had a lasting impact on me

In this manifesto, Legacy Russell takes readers through the possibilities of online presence and online activism as means of reconceptualizing gender, sexuality, identity, race, body, and feminism. Russell argues that activities and identity away from keyboard (AFK) have been privileged because they are seen as “real” when in actuality the presence(s) that we create online are very real and can be the most powerful tool in envisioning alternatives to the white cishet patriarchal capitalism we live under.

I thought that theoretically this book was fascinating. I loved the idea of the “glitch” as means of breaking down societal binaries. The concept of “glitch” was used to represent not only fitting into society’s prescribed mold of normalcy, but also disrupting and ultimately breaking down the system. There were several sections in this book I would like to revisit in the future that discussed how our online lives can help further activism efforts as well as allow us to explore personal and collective identities beyond binaries.

Where I struggled with this book was in its execution. I get that this book was a manifesto - however, I felt that some of the ideas were very repetitive or not as well fleshed out. Additionally, this book was loaded with academic terminology to the point where it was nearly inaccessible. If you are going to write a manifesto, it should be intelligible to the general public. I ended up skimming the last third of this book because I became tired of having to reread every single paragraph.

Overall, if you’re interested in cyberfeminism, feminist theory, and the relationship between technology and social activism, I would recommend this book to keep on hand as a reference text, but I wouldn’t recommend reading it cover to cover.