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ABSTRACT
This article examines how female graduate students in China would perceive their experiences as survivors of sexual harassment by their faculty supervisors. Based on our narrative interviews at Chinese universities, this study has shown that 1) sexual harassment is the supervisor’s expression of gender-based power in Chinese academia; 2) instead of blatant coercion, harassers would use their power strategically to influence and manipulate the student’s ‘consent’ – that is, to lead the victim into deceived or illusory perceptions in order to sexually harass her; 3) for those participants who refused or resisted in particular, their academic progress, careers, health, relationships, and trust to society were all negatively affected; 4) a major cause of sexual harassment in the university setting was that female scholars and students were always treated in a sexual role rather than an academic role; and 5) institutional sexual harassment policies that deploy moral norms as a tool of attributing responsibility and blame can be seen as maintaining the very sexual hierarchies in the university settings.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the academic girls and women who participated in this study.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
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Notes on contributors
Geping Qiu
Geping Qiu, PhD, is a professor of criminology at East China University of Politics and Law. Her primary research interests include the following: (a) organized crime and criminal justice, including trafficking of girls and women in China; (b) violence against women and children, such as sexual harassment and child abuse; and (c) factors that determine children’s aggressive behaviours, such as school bullying.
Hongming Cheng
Hongming Cheng, PhD, is a professor of criminology and sociology at the University of Saskatchewan and is an alumni Network Fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics of Harvard University. His research and teaching cover a variety of areas including Chinese law and society, white-collar crime, inequality and discrimination, and policing.