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. 2025 Jan;31(1):328-347.
doi: 10.1177/10778012231209011. Epub 2023 Oct 25.

Calling it out? A Q Methodological Study of Sexual Harassment Labelling

Lisa Lazard  1 , Rose Capdevila  1 , Jim Turner  1
Affiliations

Calling it out? A Q Methodological Study of Sexual Harassment Labelling

Lisa Lazard et al. Violence Against Women. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

The public condemnation of high-profile men accused of gendered violence in 2017 resulted in an upsurge of women labelling past experiences as sexual harassment. This study used Q methodology to explore understandings of sexual harassment in the UK. Forty participants sorted 62 statements into quasi-normal grids which were factor analyzed (by person). Eight factors were identified which were titled: Sex Not Sexism, Sexualized Discriminations, Victim Voice, Sameness and Difference, Power/Sex, Repeated Power Abuse, Personal Boundaries, and Masculinity and Heterosexism. Taken together, they signal that feminist efforts to articulate the experience of sexual harassment have gained ground during this period.

Keywords: Q methodology; feminism; labelling; sexism; sexual harassment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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