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Reckoning up: sexual harassment and violence in the neoliberal university

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 13:32 authored by Alison Phipps
This paper situates sexual harassment and violence in the neoliberal university. Using data from a ‘composite ethnography’ representing twelve years of research, I argue that institutional inaction on these issues reflects how they are ‘reckoned up’ in the context of gender and other structures. The impact of disclosure is projected in market terms: this produces institutional airbrushing which protects both the institution and those (usually privileged men) whose welfare is bound up with its success. Staff and students are differentiated by power/value relations, which interact with gender and intersecting categories. Survivors are often left with few alternatives to speaking out in the ‘outrage economy’ of the corporate media: however, this can support institutional airbrushing and bolster punitive technologies. I propose the method of Grounded Action Inquiry, implemented with attention to Lorde’s work on anger, as a parrhesiastic practice of ‘speaking in’ to the neoliberal institution.

Funding

Gender and Institutional Culture; G1703; Imperial College

Research into campus culture and the experiences of women students in higher education; G0985; NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS; LB-1760

Universities Supporting Victims of Sexual Violence (USVSV); G1893; EUROPEAN UNION; JUST/2014/RDAP/AG/VICT/7401

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Gender and Education

ISSN

0954-0253

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

2

Volume

32

Page range

227-243

Department affiliated with

  • Sociology and Criminology Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Centre for Gender Studies Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-05-29

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-12-06

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-05-29

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