Abstract
This chapter explores the notion of victimhood in sexual harassment discourse. Beginning with 1970s feminist activism, the chapter examines cultural shifts in understandings of victim identity as central to feminist resistance against sexual harassment. It focuses on the ways in which victim identity has been maligned in popular discourse because of its associations with powerlessness and passivity. Using media reporting around Actress Ashley Judd and Singer Taylor Swift’s experiences of sexual harassment and assault, the chapter examines how recent characterisations of victimhood depart from polarisations of agency as good and passivity as bad. It focuses on the implications of these narratives for engaging with intersectional power relations and for opening up spaces for a range of accounts of victimisation to be heard.
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Lazard, L. (2020). Women, Sexual Harassment and Victim Politics. In: Sexual Harassment, Psychology and Feminism. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55255-8_3
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