Stigmatized Women's Discourse about Sexual Harassment in Academia

#MeToo furthered the debates about sexual harassment in academia in different contexts and locations. In Portugal, two moments drove the media debates around sexual harassment in higher education. Specifically, the allegations that emerged at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (FDUL) in 2022, and the case related to the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra in 2023. This study aimed to investigate the media coverage of these cases and their respective contributions to the national debate on sexual harassment in academia. We analysed the opinion articles published online between April 2022 and June 2023 in five Portuguese newspapers, Diário de Notícias, Jornal de Notícias, Público, Expresso, Observador, and Correio da Manhã, conducting a comparative analysis of the two cases. Sexual harassment was broadly discussed as an endemic reality, exacerbated by the precariousness and gendered hierarchical structures of academia. At the same time, there was a tendency to personalize the debate, by focusing on Boaventura Sousa Santos, CES’s emeritus director. This served as a basis for the instrumentalization of sexual violence as a form of political attack against the left, thus weakening the potential of the debates about sexual and moral harassment in academia.

EDITORS' NOTE: Howz serious and widespread a problem is sexual harassment in our universities? What means will effectively diminish its incidence without violating the rights of individuals? Each of thefollowing essays answers one of these two questions. In the first, Bernice Lott, Mary Ellen Reilly, and Dale Howard describe the results of a 1979 survey that examined a sample of the entire University of Rhode Island population. Its purpose was to determine how many of the respondents in the sample group had personal knowledge of or had experienced any form of sexual assault, intimidation, or insult; how they had responded to assault; and their beliefs about harassment in general. In the second essay, Judith Berman Brandenburg delineates a response to the problem worked out at Yale University: the establishment of a grievance procedure administered through a specially selected board. The process of this honest search for answers uncovers other questions: Do we have a definition of sexual harassment upon which most people will agree? Is power thefactor that transforms what may be cajolery into harassment? If so, power in what forms? Do these forms make the problem invulnerable to any solution? With these essays we open a dialogue on such questions. We invite your letters in response, in the hope that through the exchange we canfurther advance feminist efforts to analyze-and to overcome-this pernicious form of sexual injustice.

Increasingly, sexual harassment in academia is identified as a problem. In this article, we take issue with the kind of problem sexual harassment in academia is usually held to be. We argue that by dealing with sexual harassment as a legal issue, institutions obscure and evade their moral and epistemic responsibilities toward their members, notably victim-survivors, bystanders, perpetrators, and those working to end sexual harassment. Drawing upon Dotson’s three-order framework of epistemic injustice, we argue that institutional definitions and responses to sexual harassment routinely exclude survivor experiences, thus perpetuating epistemic oppression. Our philosophical analysis of the problem of sexual harassment in academia points to the importance of storytelling: it matters epistemically who gets to tell their story, and which stories receive institutional uptake. We especially stress the epistemic harms that arise when victim-survivors’ accounts are non-paradigmatic: that is, they deviate from the standard story of sexual harassment within academia. To counteract this standard story and to supplement the legal approach, we argue for the importance of telling, and hearing, stories that convey non-paradigmatic experiences of sexual harassment from the survivor’s perspective. These narratives provide invaluable tools in rectifying the three forms of epistemic injustice perpetuated by processes of institutional silencing. This article endeavors to introduce new concepts to the institutional discourse on sexual harassment, urging universities to assume not just legal, but also moral responsibility and to confront the epistemic harms engendered by sexual harassment in academia.

This article presents the main results of an exploratory qualitative study conducted in 2022, which examined sexual harassment in Portuguese academia. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews and sociodemographic profile questionnaires with 18 women from different generations and scientific areas. All participants had stable careers in academia, which gave them in-depth knowledge of its internal dynamics. This study explores their experiences as victims and witnesses of sexual harassment, as well as institutional actors who had to deal with complaints. It contributes to the understanding of sexual harassment in academia and its gendered dynamics, in a time when women are reaching positions of power in a traditionally male dominated area. Linked to gendered inequalities and hierarchies, and to neoliberal reforms, sexual harassment is a significant problem in Portuguese academia that affects mostly, but not exclusively, women in subordinate positions and of younger age. It has negative impacts on victims, but it also harms bystanders who support the victims and use their institutional power to try to make perpetrators accountable.

This study explores experiences of and reflections on sexual harassment in academia among students and doctoral students from Belgium, Croatia, Germany, and Sweden. Prevalence studies show that sexual harassment is a common occurrence and has negative consequences not only on mental health in general but also on academic performance. However, little is known about what kinds of support and prevention are needed. Therefore, the aim of this study has been to develop in-depth knowledge about students’ and doctoral students’ reflections on how victims of sexual harassment in academia should be supported, and how sexual harassment in academia could be prevented. To achieve this aim, 54 individual interviews, and 6 focus group interviews with 18 participants, were conducted between 2020 and 2022 with a total of 72 participants at the bachelors, masters, doctoral level or state exam level. Based on a thematic analysis three themes emerged: (a) Information on sexual harassment, (b) Prerequisites for reporting and intervening, and (c) Support as a preventive activity. The results show an urgent need for information, since this is perceived as lacking by students and doctoral students, and suggested strategies for information provision are presented. Further, there are challenges related to reporting, and ignorance about how to intervene when sexual harassment is witnessed. Professional support is described as important, along with support from peers, mentors, family, and friends. These findings are relevant for researchers and for clinicians at university student health centres, to develop relevant preventive and supportive interventions in the context of academia.

In her article "An Analysis of University Definitions of Sexual Harassment" (Signs 8, no. 4 [Summer 1983]: 696-707), Phyllis L. Crocker evaluates the definitions of sexual harassment used by academic, professional, and governmental bodies. Her analysis is astute, enlightening, and important. However, she makes no mention of sexual harassment of women professors by their men students.' There is a general lack of awareness of this type of harassment not only in Crocker's work and the official definitions but also in other research on sexual harassment within

Clinical Aspects of Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination. Psychological Consequences and Treatment Interventions Sharyn Ann Lenhard. New York: Brunner-Routledge; 2004. 233 p. US$34.95. Reviewer rating: Good Gender discrimination and sexual harassment in academia and the workplace can result in serious psychological damage leading to illness and disability. Dr Sharyn Ann Lenhard is a noted forensic expert in women's mental health. Her book is designed for clinicians, managers, attorneys, and others interested in this field. Background information on the phenomena of discrimination and harassment is used as a springboard for discussion of psychological sequelae are in this small, reasonably priced hardcover. The book is not intended to be exhaustive or to summarize all the current research, although the citations of previous work are extensive. It starts with definitions of gender and sex, discrimination, and sexual harassment, noting that gender discrimination is usually perceived as a women's mental health issue. Sexual harassment and gender discrimination appear together and are deliberately joined throughout the text. Authorities note that women who tend to transcend traditional female roles are more likely to be aware of harassment and discrimination. Women who report sexual harassment in their workplace also tend to believe their organization discriminates against women. The book is organized into 8 chapters discussing gender trends in the workplace, the dynamics of victim-perpetrator interactions, and the physical, emotional, and psychiatric disorders that may result from sexual harassment and gender discrimination. A chapter is devoted to understanding the legal process in the US. This is geared to a clinician who has never been involved in legal action. Separation of the therapist role from that of the expert witness is stressed. The last 3 chapters focus on a 9-step treatment approach, subdividing intervention into 3 stages of alliance building and crisis intervention; processing affect and cognitions with formulations of an effective plan of action; and the final stages of mourning, recovery, and reinvestment. The book has many case vignettes, which Dr Lenhart perfectly places to pace the reading of the text. Just when the reader is feeling overwhelmed with a concept, a vignette appears and makes it real. The author acknowledges that these are composites of cases; some vignettes are strikingly similar. Unfortunately, some of the cases are disturbing. Many describe accomplished women in academic or medical establishments who have suffered unthinkable situations. …

This article reviews research on sexual harassment, particularly that pertaining to academia, to understand its underlying causes. Arguing that sexual harassment is an ethical issue, we draw on the field of behavioral ethics to structure our review. We first review ethical climate antecedents at the individual, leader, organizational, and environmental levels and examine their effects on both the occurrence of and responses to sexually harassing behaviors. This discussion is followed by an exploration of research that speaks to the cognitive processes of bounded ethicality-including ethical fading, motivated blindness, and the slippery slope-and their role in facilitating and perpetuating sexual harassment. We conclude by highlighting the value to be gained from integrating research on sexual harassment with research on behavioral ethics and identifying several practical steps that can be taken to curb sexual harassment in academia.

Guidelines and institutional policies regarding sexual harassment in academia have a relatively short and controversial background. Deference to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines in employment sexual harassment incidents guides much of the thinking in contemporary courts. Title IX of the Educational Amendments and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 are but two of the legal redresses available to students with harassment grievance complaints. Lack of definition of the term as well as research studies in nursing complicate the issue of sexual harassment. The potential impact of harassment on nursing students both in the classroom and in the practice area is significant. Nursing administrators and educators must be proactive in writing and implementing policies regarding sexual harassment.

IntroductionExperiences of sexual harassment are common among university students. At the same time, research shows that victims and bystanders find it difficult to determine when an incident meets the criteria for sexual harassment. The aim of this study therefore was to obtain a richer and deeper understanding of the obstacles that university students encounter in identifying sexual harassment in the academic environment.MethodsIndividual interviews and focus groups were conducted with a total of 85 students at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level in five European countries (Belgium, Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) between 2020 and 2022. Thematic analysis was used to identify obstacles in identifying sexual harassment.ResultsThe obstacles described by participants were found to fall into three main categories: (1) preconceived notions about what constitutes sexual harassment that did not necessarily concur with lived experiences, (2) navigating an often blurred or ambiguous line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and (3) the existence of competing interpretations of what had happened.ConclusionsThe results point to a gap between the participants’ lived experiences and their interpretations of them, which include difficulties positioning their experiences within their theoretical understanding of sexual harassment.Policy ImplicationsMeasures to counteract the obstacles faced by victims and bystanders in identifying sexual harassment in academia should target this cognitive gap, for instance by addressing the stereotypes that characterize preconceived notions about sexual harassment.

Previous articleNext article No AccessRevisions/ReportsAn Analysis of University Definitions of Sexual HarassmentPhyllis L. CrockerPhyllis L. Crocker Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 8, Number 4Summer, 1983 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/494004 Views: 52Total views on this site Citations: 32Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1983 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Anne G. 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IntroductionIn the literature, no integrated definition of sexual harassment (SH) occurs but there is clear unanimity about SH being offensive, humiliating, and intimidating behavior. Within academic settings, SH has severe negative effects on students' physical or emotional wellbeing as well as on their ability to succeed academically.MethodsThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between sex, gender roles, and the ways to manage SH (assertive and nonassertive reactions) in university students. It was hypothesized that female students would report more nonassertive reactions compared to male students. In addition, following the Bem theory on gender roles and using the self-report tool by the same author, it is hypothesized that female and male students, who are classified as feminine, will report more nonassertive responses, whereas male and female students, who are classified as masculine, will report more assertive responses. Our hypothesis was tested with a sample of 1,415 university students (593 men, 41.9%, and 822 women, 58.1%) who completed a questionnaire approved by the local ethical review board for research from the end of January 2019 to the first half of February 2019.ResultsContrary to our hypothesis, results showed that women react more than men in both assertive and nonassertive modalities. In addition, our results confirmed the main effect of both sex and gender roles on students' assertive and nonassertive reactions to SH in academia.ConclusionEducational programs about SH may prove useful in preventing its occurrence. Gender equality plans in academia can improve a nonsexist and safe environment for students. It is urgent to improve transparency and accountability of policies on the management of SH: academic institutions need to formulate a procedure to facilitate SH reporting, considering the sensitive balance of confidentiality and transparency issues. Support for the victims (social services, healthcare, legal representation, and advice concerning career/professional development) must be included.

Sexual harassment is one of the many types of gender violence suffered by women in society, including universities. As a result of gender discrimination and the asymmetry of power relations, sexual harassment in academia must be studied in order to understand it as a phenomenon that needs to be fought, not silenced, so that this environment becomes a less hostile and more inviting place for women who want to study and pursue a career in higher education. However, while machismo and patriarchy cannot be overcome, institutions need to offer mechanisms for reporting sexual harassment to break the cycle of impunity and prevent new victims. In this research, we explore how a Brazilian federal public university administratively handles reports and complaints of sexual harassment against women at the institutional level, based on the reality of a federal public university in the North region of Brazil. Through a case study, the research corpus consisted of document analysis and 24 interviews, which were analyzed using the content analysis technique according to Bardin. As a result, we arrived at the following categories: "Sexual Harassment: Concept and Understanding", "Formal Structure", "Barriers to Reporting" and "Not Everything is a Barrier", which helped us to know how the university is organized to assist victims of sexual harassment and to conclude that, although federal universities have formal structures and legal bases to receive and investigate such complaints, there are still barriers to be overcome so that women, the main victims of sexual harassment, feel safe when denouncing the cases that have occurred in academic institutions. In addition, with the findings of this research, we developed a protocol for receiving complaints of sexual harassment, considering the particularities of Brazilian federal universities, which are not always addressed in documents produced by the Federal Government on the subject.

Business schools appear to be under-researched when it comes to sexual harassment. Because of the hesitancy of victims to report their experiences, sexual harassment in academia is often a hidden issue. In the last few years, the media and research have paid great attention to it, and the general public is becoming more aware of it. This research work aimed to find out the students' knowledge about sexual harassment, the types faced by students, and further, evaluate up to what extent sexual harassment impedes the academic performance of students. The study also aimed to find various elements leading to the sexual harassment experience of males and females in the classroom. The data of this qualitative study are collected through 30 semi-structured interviews from students of public and private business schools in Peshawar city. The study investigates the effect of sexual harassment on the academic performance of students. The results indicate that it affects the mental health and morale of students and it leads to dissatisfaction. Hence, there is a crucial need to develop sustainable systems to redress the structure through anti-sexual harassment policies.

Universities and colleges have for a long time ignored sexual harassment, hoped it was non-existent or wailed for it to disappear. Recently, however, students, professors and university administrators have begun to recognize the perniciousness and pervasiveness of the problem but thus far with little attention to sexual harassment as a health hazard. Based on data collected by questionnaire from 455 women university undergraduate and graduate students and nine follow-up in-depth interviews, this study examines the dimensions and dynamics of sexual harassment as a health hazard for women. Sexual harassment is found to have both direct and indirect health effects, including nausea and sleeplessness, loss of self-esteem, fear and anger, feelings of helplessness and isolation, as well as nervousness and depression. In contributing to the literature on women's culturally and socially determined health problems, this study sheds light on the ways in which women students' economic, political, social and personal well-being can be undermined by sexual harassment.