Intersecting Injustices: Re-storying Sexual Harassment in Academia

Drawing on feminist philosophy, this dissertation starts from the following research question: how should sexual harassment in academia be conceptualized as a form of structural injustice, and what institutional responsibilities follow from this characterization? To answer this question, I deploy the lenses of Intersectionality; Dominant Discourses and Epistemic Injustice; and Institutional Power and Responsibility. The dissertation’s main theoretical contributions lie in conceptualizing sexual harassment in academia as not just an interpersonal matter, but as a structural injustice and in theorizing universities’ distinct institutional responsibilities for this injustice. Examining sexual harassment as a product of agency and of structure, this dissertation investigates how and why various injustices intersect with one another. Findings show that these injustices compound the harm of sexual harassment in academia: a lack of attention to intersectionality; conceptual vagueness and ambiguity regarding the label of sexually transgressive behavior; the dismissal of victim-survivors’ testimonies, especially when they deviate from a “standard story”; and the absence of institutional values that signal the unacceptability of sexual harassment. Combining empirical study of the Flemish university context with philosophical argumentation on problems that extend beyond Flemish academia, my analysis foregrounds the complex nature of the problem and the urgent need for further research, policy development, and the re-crafting of institutional responses, particularly—but not exclusively—in the context of Flemish higher education. In theorizing universities’ institutional responsibility for this structural injustice and in mapping out pathways toward institutional courage, this dissertation invites university leaders to address the moral harms of sexual harassment in academia and to recognize the need for structural change. Crucially, this dissertation aims to inspire university representatives and policymakers by charting various pathways toward institutional courage: the development of a robust policy framework that recognizes the influence of power and privilege by paying attention to intersectionality and power abuse; the articulation of a clear institutional standpoint regarding what constitutes transgressive behavior; the counteracting of institutional silencing by creating space for victim-survivors’ experiences outside of disciplinary hearings; working towards increasing university members’ testimonial competence; the communication and institutionalization of organizational values that signal the unacceptability of sexual harassment; and the condemnation of violations of these shared values by way of sanctioning. In short, this dissertation urges university leaders to approach sexual harassment in academia not as an occasional mishap that cannot be avoided, but as a structural injustice that can, and must, be challenged.