Work

“A Spider on Your Shoulder”: Workplace Sexual Harassment Through a Narrative Lens

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: We theorize workplace sexual harassment in terms of narrative. Two case studies – one at Ford Motor Company plants, the other involving former New York State governor Andrew Cuomo – ground thematic analysis of victims’ accounts of experiences of harassment and commentary on their capacity to give accounts. We identify six challenges - features of workplace harassment and its social context - that victims face in narrating harassment, which facilitate abuse and undermine redress: (1) ambiguity of meaning; (2) stepwise harassment; (3) coerced co-participation; (4) admonitions/mechanisms against telling; (5) competing narrative constructions; and (6) storyteller marginalization. Anti-harassment efforts should target these challenges.

Source: Feminist Criminology

DOI: 10.1177/15570851241281082

Authors: Christine Vossler, Lois Presser, Eva Mulder

Institutions: University of Tennessee at Knoxville, University of Humanistic Studies

Language: English

Topic: Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Gender equality, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,450