Critical Race Feminism Empirical Research Project: Sexual Harassment & (and) the Internal Complaints Black Box, A Defining the Voices of Critical Race Feminism

In this Article, I present a Critial Race Feminism (CRF) empirical sexual harassment project I recently conducted as a case study of how empirical research can be valuable to the future of CRF. Part I introduces the sexual harassment study and discusses the empirical questions it sought to explore. Part II then presents the empirical research design and the general trends that the data provided. Part III analyzes the key findings of the study and how it contributes to an understanding of how the application of sexual harassment law implicates race. The statistical analysis of survey responses from a group of 120 female sexual harassment victims suggests that White women and Women of Color may differ in their uses of internal complaint procedures. The racial disparity is particularly significant in light of recent Supreme Court decisions ting employer liability to the use of internal complaint procedures. The Article concludes by detailing the ways in which the case study highlights the utility of empirical research for CRF legal analysis and praxis