Signing up for thestatus quo?Semiological analyses of sexual harassment in higher education—a Swedish example

Abstract

This article explores the effects of certain discourses as they relate to sexual harassment in a Swedish higher education setting. Using a semiological perspective, the author analyzes notions of existence, range, prevention, and stability in order to demonstrate the way they aim at signifying a limited and, from a bureaucratic point of view, legitimate reality of sexual harassment. The empirical material consists partly of material drawn from public policies, legal documents, and research reports on sexual harassment in higher education, and partly of fourteen semi‐structured interviews with equal opportunity practitioners responsible for implementing equality legislation at a Swedish university. A semiological view on the construction of sexual harassment in public texts and ordinary speech is given through an analysis of the use of language and the internal and external relations of signs. By focusing simultaneously on the stable and variable aspects of the sign, interpretations of the specific notions...