A sociolinguistic exploration of sexual harassment at an institution of higher education in Zimbabwe
The aim of this study is to explore some of the main linguistic features that characterize the discourse of sexual harassment of peers at an institution of higher learning in Zimbabwe. One hundred undergraduate female students aged between 19 and 24 were asked to respond to a questionnaire on sexual harassment and describe what they recalled the harassers said to them. The results reveal that the discourse of sexual harassment is characterized by (a) the use of monologic utterances, (b) extensive use of code-mixing and, most importantly, (c) the use of excessively impolite utterances that are couched in hostile jokes.
References
AIDS Support Education Trust
1993 Using a Sociolinguistic Approach to Safe Sex Promotion in Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town: ASET.
Bauer, Robert S
2010 History and Structure of Cantonese. Code Switching and Code Mixing. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong.
Berk-Seligson, Susan
1986 Linguistic constraints on intra-sentential code-switching: A study of Spanish/Hebrew bilingualism.
Language in Society 151: 313–348.
Boland, Mary
2002 Sexual Harassment: Your Guide to Legal Action. Naperville: Sphinx Publishing.
Bozongwana, Wallace
1983 Ndebele Religion and Customs. Gweru: Mambo Press.
Buzzanell, Patrice
1992 Sex, romance and organizational taboos. In
Constructing and Reconstructing Gender: The Links among Communication, Language and Gender,
Linda Perry,
Lynn Turner &
Helen Sterk (eds), 175–184. Albany: State University of New York.
Carter, Jamie
2006 Sexual harassment… The BIG issue in the workplace, part 7.
[URL] (February 26, 2006)
Chaudoir, Stephanie R. & Quinn, Diane M
2010 Bystander sexism in the intergroup context: The impact of cat calls on women’s emotions and intentions towards men.
Sex Roles 62(9-10): 623–634.
Coser, Rose L
1960 Laughter among colleagues.
Psychiatry 23(1): 113–115.
DuBois, Inke
2009 Language attrition and code-switching among US Americans in Germany.
Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics PLUS 39(1): 1–16.
Ehrlich, Susan
1998 The discursive reconstruction of sexual consent.
Discourse & Society 9(1): 149–170.
Ehrlich, Susan
1999 Communities of practice, gender and the representation of sexual assault.
Language in Society 28(1): 239–256.
Ehrlich, Susan
2003 Coercing gender: Language in sexual assault adjudication processes. In
The Handbook of Language and Gender,
Janet Holmes &
Miriam Meyerhoff (eds), 645–670. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Ehrlich, Susan
2004 Language and gender. In
The Handbook of Applied Linguistics,
Alan Davis &
Catherine Elder (eds), 304–327. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Ehrlich, Susan
2012 Text trajectories, legal discourse and gendered inequalities.
Applied Linguistics Review 3(1): 47–73.
Ehrlich, Susan & King, Ruth
1994 Feminist meanings and the (de)politicization of the lexicon.
Language in Society 23(1): 59–76.
Feltoe, Geff
1990 Guide to Criminal Law in Zimbabwe: Women and Law in Southern Africa. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Foa, Edna & Street, Gordon P
2001 Women and traumatic events.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 62(1): 29–34.
Fowlkes, Diane
1992 Workshop on sexual harassment. (Presentation at the Meeting for Women in Astronomy at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, September, 8-9, 1992)
Freud, Sigmund
1960 Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. New York: W.W. Norton.
Gilmore, David G
2009 Misogyny: The Male Malady. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Gumperz, John
1982 Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holland, Jack
2006 Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.
Hudson, Raymond
1980 Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, Allan G
2005 The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Kambarami, Maureen
2006 Femininity, Sexuality and Culture: Patriarchy and Female Subordination in Zimbabwe. Lagos: Africa Regional Sexual Resource Centre.
Kissling, Arveda & Kramarae, Cheris
1991 Stranger compliments: The interpretation of street remarks.
Women’s Studies in Communication 14(1): 75–91.
Lafontaine, Edward & Tredeau, Leslie
1986 The frequency sources, and correlates of sexual harassment among women in traditional male occupations.
Sex Roles 15(7-8): 433–442.
Makgopa, Malegapura William
1997 Figurative and poetic language in indigenous healing: An African perspective.
Indilinga: African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems 8(2): 147–157.
Martin, Brian
1984 Uprooting War. London: Freedom Press.
McColgan, Aileen
2005 Second Edition Discrimination Law: Text Cases and Materials. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Neugarten, Dail Ann & Shafritz, Jay
1980 Sexuality in Organizations: Romantic and Coercive Behavior at Work. Oak Park: Moore Publishing Company.
Nilep, Chad
2006 Code switching in sociocultural linguistics.
Colorado Research in Linguistics 19(1): 1–22.
Swift, James
2010 Exploring Capital Metro’s Sexual Harassment Training Using Dr. Bengt-Ake Lundvalls’ Taxonomy of Knowledge Principles. Master’s thesis, Texas State University.
[URL] (April 17, 2014)
Van Huyssteen, Linda
1999 Problems regarding term creation in southern African languages with special reference to Zulu.
South African Journal of African Languages 19(3): 179–186.
Vladutiu, Catherine J
2011 College or university-based sexual assault program on fraternity men’s attitudes, behavioral intent and behavior.
Journal of American College Health 48(1): 158–163.
Yieke, Felicia
2004 Sexual harassment in the workplace: A case for linguistic and sexual politics.
Journal of Cultural Studies 6(2): 175–196.
Zindi, Fred
1994 Sexual harassment in Zimbabwe’s institutions of higher education.
Zambezia 21(2): 177–185.
Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Blumell, Lindsey E. & Dinfin Mulupi
2023.
The Impact of Anti-Sexual Harassment Policies on Sexual Harassment Prevention in the Workplace.
Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal
Mukwidigwi, Tariro & Maheshvari Naidu
2022.
Gendered Acquiescence and Resistance(s) to Coercive Sexual Practices Among Female Students at a Zimbabwean University.
The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man 22:1
► pp. 139 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.