Contrapower: on sexual harassment by students

The Australian Women’s History Network’s (AWHN) recent report on sexual harassment and discrimination in Australian academia reveals the need for more research into the continued misuses and abuses of power in the academy. The findings of the report, released last week, expose a disturbing collection of inappropriate and widely underreported behaviours, from gendered bullying to sexual coercion, predation, and even assault. One recurring scenario that was reported by survey respondents involved female PhD students being pressured into sex by their male supervisors. According to the authors, ‘Respondents wrote about being lured into men’s offices, hotel rooms or homes on a professional pretext, and then having to fend off unwanted sexual advances. In many cases, coercion and intimidation were involved’. These reports draw attention to the complex interplay of gender and power in academia, while pointing to the need for structural change, including both the decentralisation and diversification of institutional authority. However, the report’s focus on ‘top-down’ discrimination overlooks another important aspect of this multi-faceted problem, which is the fact that many female academics are sexually harassed by students too