Just a little Bit of Cheeky Ribaldry”

Newsroom discourses of sexually harassing behaviour

Bibliographic Data

ID12689356
AuthorsLouise North (corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume7
Issue1
Pages81-96
Publication date2007-03-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680770601103738
OpenAlexW2022522203
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited5

This paper is concerned with how Australian print news media journalists, male and female, remember, talk about, experience, acknowledge, condemn, and/or deny sexually harassing behaviour in the newsroom. A total of seventeen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight male and nine female journalists in late 2003 and early 2004. The interviewees ranged in age from 19 to 56 and differed in levels of industry experience. The interviews were not set up to specifically discuss sexually harassing behaviour in the newsroom; however it was a theme that arose in seven of the interviews about newsroom culture, my broader PhD project. The female interviewees make clear their encounters are constant reminders of how their bodies do not "fit" and/or where and how they do fit in this occupation. This is the case, even though some women do not use the term "sexual harassment" to describe the behaviour that clearly constitutes it under Australian government legislation. The two male journalists interviewed who mentioned harassment talk about it in defence of accepted office behaviour, or in passing about procedural business policy. The use of the term "sexual harassment," or lack of its use, also tells us about the place of feminism and/or feminist inspired government legislation in journalism's occupational culture. Thanks also to the University of Tasmania Rosamond McCulloch Studio management committee who selected me for a residency at the Cite International des Arts, Paris, in March and April 2005, where a considerable part of this paper was written. Notes 1. All names of interviewees have been changed to protect anonymity. 2. Are You Being Served? was a popular British comedy set in a London department store. It aired in the UK between 1972 and 1985. The series spun off into an Australian version which was show in 1980–81. Mrs Slocombe is a female character in the show. Ugly Dave Grey is a British-born Australian comedian who made regular appearances on the popular Australian television game show Blankety Blanks. It was shown from 1977 to 1979. Grey was renowned for his bawdy jokes and "Dick did'" repartee with the show's host. 3. I use the term "people" here, but I am not assuming that women are of greater risk of embarrassment about sex than men, or that sexual harassment of men by women does not occur. Further research that included specific discussions about sexual harassment would certainly provide more room for detailed analysis. 4. A document detailing a set of minimum wage and work conditions negotiated between an employer and an employee group, such as the industry union MEAA

Feminism · Government (linguistics · Harassment · Human sexuality · Journalism · Legislation · Media studies · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Theme (computing · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions

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