Joining up well-being and sexual misconduct data and policy in HE: ‘To stand in the gap’ as a feminist approach
Autor/in:
Oman, Susan; Bull, Anna
Quelle: The Sociological review, 70 (2022) 1, S 21–38
Inhalt: This article joins up evidence and policy relating to two linked concerns in higher education (HE) that are treated as unrelated: postgraduate research student (PGR) well-being, and staff sexual misconduct towards students. Against the standard methodology of systematic reviews, we build on feminist approaches to apply a ‘re-performance’ approach to the review. Re-performance re-enacts established methods, contextualising previous analysis through ethnographic and desk-based research, exposing gaps in evidence, analysis, representation, care and policy. We reveal how aspects of PGR experience, particularly the cultures that engender ill-being and enable sexual misconduct, are silenced in evidence-making. Our ‘re-performance’ uncovers how this occurs in three ways, through: the (mis)construction of the ‘typical student’ in well-being literatures; the (mis)construction of the phenomenon of ‘well-being’ exacerbated by generic survey tools focusing on a medicalised model of mental health; the (mis)construction of HE institutions as integrated, agential and ethical, aided by the fragmentation of administrative systems and knowledge production between disciplines. Together, these organising modes conceal lack of care, staff sexual misconduct and poor well-being. From these findings, specific policy issues are identified: the risks to giving more responsibility to supervisors for PGR well-being; a pattern of institutional listening while silencing; and the need to explore feedback loops between patterns of vulnerability to ill-being and staff sexual misconduct. Through our analysis, the article demonstrates how to ‘stand in the gaps’ – between knowledges; and between evidence and action; between policy and care – in a way that can be generalised across policy domains, epistemologies and policy-making contexts.
Trans faculty and queer battle fatigue: : poetic (re)presentations of navigating identity politics in the academy
Autor/in:
Robinson, Sean
Quelle: International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 35 (2022) 9, S 911–927
Inhalt: Research on the experiences of trans* employees show that trans* individuals face disproportionate levels of harassment, discrimination, violence, and forms of aggression in the workplace. While broader organizational and workplace research exploring issues of trans* employees may be transferrable to higher education settings, higher education nevertheless has specific needs that make it distinctly different from non-higher education work environments. Although organizational scholars writing on workplace discrimination issues have offered recommendations for increasing trans-affirmation in workplace environments, little research has focused exclusively on trans* faculty on college and university campuses. Responding to calls for a nuanced understanding of trans* educators in more creative ways, this article (re)presents the experiences of six trans* identified post-secondary faculty in the format of a found poem that weaves together the voices of the participants into a collective narrative. When read through the lens of queer battle fatigue, the poem highlights the violence, marginalization, and forms of aggression experienced by trans* individuals that lead to feelings of exhaustion.
Quelle: ephemera. theory & politics in organization, 22 (2022) 1, S 27–55
Inhalt: Research on sexual harassment in professional settings has enabled a conceptualization of transgressive behaviour by naming, defining, and mapping the phenomenon. Yet, the problem shows little sign of being eliminated. This article mobilizes a perspective of dis/organization to shed new light on the continuous (re)production of sexual harassment, suggesting that organizational contradictions create tension within which sexual harassment is enabled and (re)produced. The study employs a tension-centred research approach and draws on empirical data from two different professional settings in Denmark, namely academia and the military. Attending to the tension that arises in the organizing of these professional settings, the article identifies four contradictions that enable sexual harassment. Connecting these findings to the work of Butler, the article argues that navigating such contradictions is deeply entangled in the un/doing of professional subjects, thus making it a sensitive matter, not least for newcomers striving for intelligibility in a new professional setting. In addition to this contribution to the field of sexual harassment research, the article proposes the concept of un/doing as an analytical tool to critically examine tension and contradictions in the realm of dis/organization.
Schlagwörter:academia; Denmark; Organisationstheorie; organization; sexual abuse; theory
Associations between sexual assault victimization and risky drinking within college women's personal networks
Autor/in:
Patterson, Megan; Prochnow, Tyler; Fehr, Sara; et al.
Quelle: Violence against women, 28 (2022) 11, S 2603–2623
Inhalt: Within a sample of college women, this study assessed if an individual's (i.e., ego) history of sexual assault was related to her connecting with risky drinkers, and if her social contacts (i.e., alters) who had experienced sexual assault were also people who engaged in risky drinking. Results suggest ego's history of sexual assault was associated with her connecting to risky drinkers. Generally, egos reported alters who experienced sexual assault were more likely to drink in higher quantities, except when the ego and alter both had experienced sexual assault. Findings highlight the importance of social connections for survivors of sexual assault.
Risk and Protective Factors for Men’s Sexual Violence Against Women at Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic and Meta-Analytic Review of the Longitudinal Evidence - Bridget Steele, Mackenzie Martin, Alexa Yakubovich, David K. Humphreys, Elizabeth Nye, 2022
Autor/in:
Steele, Bridget; Martin, Machenzie; Nye, Elizabeth; et al.
Quelle: Trauma, violence & abuse, 23 (2022) 3, S 716–732
Inhalt: Sexual violence among higher education institution (HEI) students is a growing public health concern. To date, there is little evidence on how to effectively pr...
Schlagwörter:data analysis; men; offensive speech; perpetrator; Review; sexual abuse; violence
Putting People Down and Pushing Them Out: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Autor/in:
Cortina, Lilia M.; Areguin, Maira A.
Quelle: Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav. (Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior), 8 (2021) 1, S 285–309
Inhalt: Sexual harassment was once conceptualized solely as a sexual problem: coercive sexual advances that spring from natural feelings of sexual desire or romance. Research has since shown that by far the most common manifestation of sexual harassment is gender harassment, which has contempt at its core; this conduct aims to put people down and push them out, not pull them into sexual activity. With findings such as these, we have made many strides in the scientific study of sexual harassment. That body of scholarship is the focus of this article, which is organized around the following questions: What is sexual harassment, both behaviorally and legally? How common is this conduct in work organizations, and what are its consequences? What features of the social/organizational context raise the risk for sexual harassment? What are some promising (and not-so-promising) solutions to this pervasive problem? And finally, what are important directions for this area of research moving forward?
Inhalt: Mehr als die Hälfte (58,9 %) aller Medizinstudierenden in Münster sind sexueller Belästigung in ihrer Ausbildung ausgesetzt gewesen. Zu diesem Ergebnis kam eine umfragenbasierte Studie einer Arbeitsgruppe an der medizinischen Fakultät der WWU Münster. Die Studie, welche auf einer anonymen Erhebung aus dem Jahr 2018 aufbaut, beschäftigt sich mit unterschiedlichen Formen der sexuellen Belästigung in der medizinischen Ausbildung gegenüber männlichen und weiblichen Studierenden an der medizinischen Fakultät der WWU Münster.
Background
Assessment of the presence and characteristics of sexual harassment in academic medicine is a global issue. Only limited international data are available so far.
Methods
Aim: To assess the extent of sexual harassment and identify the perpetrators in the student population of the medical school of Münster, Germany.
A survey was undertaken, using the Medical Women’s International Association sexual harassment questionnaire translated into German. The anonymous online questionnaire was sent as a link to all medical undergraduates at Münster Medical School via a mailing list between 1 October and 30 November 2018. Identifying or potentially identifying data were not collected.
Data were analysed by descriptive statistical methods such as categorical variables. Baseline characteristics, e.g. answers by male or female medical students, were correlated with their individual sexual harassment experiences and perpetrator groups by means of univariate analysis.
Results
A total of 2162 medical students were asked to participate, with 623 (28.8%) completing the survey. Sexual harassment is a significant issue among medical students at Münster Medical School with over half (58.9%) of all undergraduates being exposed to sexually harassing behaviour. In total, 31.8% of all participants reported having experienced unwanted physical sexual contact such as unwanted physical touching, with 87.6% of the victims being female. Overall, 41.3% personally experienced verbal sexual harassment of which 87.4% were female. Furthermore, 8.5% of undergraduates faced forced sexual contact such as oral, anal or vaginal penetration, intercourse and rape, with all victims being female. Perpetrators in these cases were mostly male medical superiors (7.0%) and male patients (18.3%). In general, most perpetrators were patients, followed by medical superiors and educators, and less frequently by colleagues.
Conclusions
Sexual harassment in medical education and the medical workplace is a significant problem in a German medical school. Most students experiencing sexual harassment are females. Female students also experience the more serious forms of sexual harassment more often.
Schlagwörter:Befragung; Hochschule; Medizin; quantitative Methode; sexual harassment; Studierende; survey
The Comparative Analysis of Sexual Violence and Harassment at the Piloting Universities of Cyprus and Lithuania
Autor/in:
Šidlauskienė, Virginija; Pocevičienė, Rasa
Quelle: Informacijos mokslai, 92 (2021) , S 90–117
Inhalt: The sociocultural contexts of higher education institutions form the background for gender-based violence in professional structures and environment of academia. The article presents a comparative analysis of sexual violence and the reasons for its (non-)disclosure at the piloting universities in Lithuania and Cyprus. The findings of focus group interviews conducted within the framework of the Ending Sexual Harassment and Violence in Third Level Education (ESHTE) project, co-funded by the European Union, have been summarized in the present research. The focus group participants from each partner university involved university teachers, administrative staff, counselors and university students. The research was conducted during a 3-month period between 2017 and 2018. The main aim was to investigate university staffs’ and students’ experiences in the disclosures of the cases of sexual violence and harassment (SVH) in university environment and campus, as well as their awareness of existing procedures and policies in handling the cases of SVH. The results of this study discovered both universities’ academic and administrative staff and students’ personal experiences, attitudes and beliefs of SVH, as well as any of their suggestions towards the improvement of disclosures of SVH are discussed in the article.
Schlagwörter:academic and administrative staff; comparative research; Cyprus; GBV; geschlechtsbezogene Gewalt; international; Lithuania; sexual violence and harassment (SVH); Student*in; vergleichende Analyse
Inhalt: In this paper, we examine the experiences of female students and academics to understand the factors that underpin the persistence of sexual harassment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) institutions. We draw on data from interviews and focus group discussions with female students and academics who participated in a study that focuses on gender inequality in science and technology universities in Ethiopia. Drawing on the concept of institutional betrayal, we argue that the high prevalence of sexual harassment in these universities is perpetuated by institutional actions and inactions through which universities fail to proactively prevent and effectively respond to sexual harassment. We suggest efforts to tackle sexual harassment need to focus on proactive and preventive measures that involve revisiting institutional policies and structures. We further suggest that grievance procedures need to be accessible, responsive, trustworthy and supportive.
Protecting the perpetrator: value judgements in US and English university sexual violence cases
Autor/in:
Shannon, Erin R.
Quelle: Gender and Education, (2021) , S 1–17
Inhalt: This paper examines four interviews with student survivors about their experiences of reporting sexual harassment and violence to universities in the United States and England, and their experiences of how their universities protected the perpetrators. Interview participants revealed that their assailants were not held accountable because the university determined they were more valuable than the survivor, whether in terms of the role the assailant occupied or their potential to make an impact in their field. I analyse these instances by combining three theories to show both how power/value relations in the neoliberal university make certain people (in)dispensable, and how these power/value relations are enacted through power dynamics of speech and hearing to protect the more ‘valuable’ party in university sexual violence cases. The article concludes with possible recommendations for structural change.
Schlagwörter:England; Gender; Hochschule; Macht; neoliberal university; neoliberalism; Neoliberalismus; power; sexual harassment; sexual violence; sexualisierte Diskriminierung; sexualisierte Gewalt; Täter; USA
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Sexuelle Belästigung und Gewalt