TY - JOUR
T1 - Attitudes to Sexism and the #MeToo Movement at a Danish University
AU - Skewes, Lea
AU - Skewes, Joshua
AU - Ryan, Michelle
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - We explore the relationship between academic employees’ attitudes to modern sexism and the #MeToo movement to better understand how interventions designed to address sexual harassment might be received in Danish academia. Using a survey of employees at a large Danish university (N = 1128), we categorized employees’ open answers about their attitudes to the #MeToo Movement as (a) positive, (b) ambivalent, or (c) negative. These categories were associated with employees’ modern sexism scores, such that those higher in modern sexism were more likely to be negative about the movement, while those with lower scores were more likely to be positive. To better understand possible sources of resistance to policy interventions, we used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to analyse the open comments for themes related to employee’s negative attitudes towards #MeToo. The two most prominent themes were: (1) delegitimisation of the purposes of the movement, and (2) perception that the rights of potential sexual perpetrators were more important than those of potential victims. We discuss the implications for the implementation of interventions targeting sexual harassment.
AB - We explore the relationship between academic employees’ attitudes to modern sexism and the #MeToo movement to better understand how interventions designed to address sexual harassment might be received in Danish academia. Using a survey of employees at a large Danish university (N = 1128), we categorized employees’ open answers about their attitudes to the #MeToo Movement as (a) positive, (b) ambivalent, or (c) negative. These categories were associated with employees’ modern sexism scores, such that those higher in modern sexism were more likely to be negative about the movement, while those with lower scores were more likely to be positive. To better understand possible sources of resistance to policy interventions, we used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to analyse the open comments for themes related to employee’s negative attitudes towards #MeToo. The two most prominent themes were: (1) delegitimisation of the purposes of the movement, and (2) perception that the rights of potential sexual perpetrators were more important than those of potential victims. We discuss the implications for the implementation of interventions targeting sexual harassment.
KW - #MeToo
KW - Modern Sexism
KW - Sexual harassment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101635575&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/08038740.2021.1884598
DO - 10.1080/08038740.2021.1884598
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0803-8740
VL - 29
SP - 124
EP - 139
JO - NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research
JF - NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research
IS - 2
ER -