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Sexual Harassment and Assault During Field Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2022

Stacey L. Hunt Open the ORCID record for Stacey L. Hunt [Opens in a new window]
Stacey L. Hunt*
Affiliation:
Auburn University, USA
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Abstract

Political scientists have recently taken great strides to expose and address sexual harassment and assault in our academic departments and professional conferences. Little has been said, however, of the sexual violence and discrimination that political scientists confront during field research. Female field researchers may encounter a number of power disparities that put them at acute risk for sexual violence during fieldwork, and evidence suggests that experiences of sexual misconduct in the field are both pervasive and professionally devastating. This article challenges the discipline to break its silence on sexual violence during fieldwork, remove the stigma of incompetency assigned to survivors, and support field researchers in confronting sexual harassment and assault in the field.

Type
Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 329 - 334
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

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