Upholding the Dignity of Hong Kong Women: Legal Responses to Sexual Harassment

This chapter explores a case study in the restaurant industry by evaluating accusations against John Besh, a celebrity chef, and his organization, the Besh Restaurant Group (now BRG Hospitality). Applying the work of Perleman and Olbrechts-Tyteca and their identification of model and anti-model argumentation schemes, this study reveals how organizations and industries can address accusations against members (anti-model) and also propose and advocate for changes (model) to improve symbolic and material conditions for their industry, their employees, and their stakeholder communities. By evaluation of the discourses by leaders and members of the restaurant industry, celebrity chefs, and the mass media for their responses to sexual harassment and assault accusations; the opportunity for this movement and protest to serve as a catalyst for change and action might be understood. This case study, related to the restaurant industry, is also intended to illustrate how cases in other industries revealed through the #MeToo movement may also be catalysts for change.

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Service-Women’s Responses to Sexual Harassment: The Importance of Identity Work and Masculinity in a Gendered Organization

Violence Against Women ◽

10.1177/1077801219873433 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 26 (12-13) ◽

pp. 1656-1680

Author(s):

Stephanie Bonnes

Keyword(s):

Sexual Assault ◽

Sexual Harassment ◽

Identity Work ◽

Using Data ◽

The Military ◽

Responses To Sexual Harassment ◽

Depth Interviews

Using data from in-depth interviews with 38 U.S. service-women, this article explores women’s responses to sexual harassment in the military workplace. I argue that in an extremely gendered and masculine institution, sexual harassment threatens service-women’s identities as military insiders, presenting an identity dilemma for them. To resolve this dilemma, women prioritize their masculinity and downplay and excuse harassment. In contrast, service-women who have experienced sexual assault or combat confront sexual harassment. I argue that this is possible because for these two groups of women, sexual harassment does not present an identity dilemma. I show how masculinity is used to downplay and normalize harassment as well as to resist it.

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Adding insult to injury: Sexual harassment in Hong Kong churches

Asian Journal of Women s Studies ◽

10.1080/12259276.2018.1498287 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 388-395

Author(s):

Hiu-Tung Jessica Tso

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Sexual Harassment

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Adolescent Sexual Harassment, Shame, and Depression: Do Experiences of Witnessing Harassment Matter?

The Journal of Early Adolescence ◽

10.1177/0272431619870610 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (5) ◽

pp. 712-737 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joyce Li ◽

Wendy M. Craig

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Sexual Harassment ◽

Indirect Effect ◽

Social Contexts ◽

School Students ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Preliminary Study ◽

Conditional Indirect Effects ◽

Responses To Sexual Harassment ◽

The Relationship

This preliminary study explored a person-group dissimilarity hypothesis in the context of adolescent sexual harassment. Theory suggests that victimized youth are expected to experience worse outcomes if they perceive victimization to be a rare experience among their peers. This study comprised 435 middle school students who reported on their experiences of sexual harassment (victimization and witnessing), shame, and depressive symptoms. We tested a cross-sectional conditional indirect-effects model, with shame mediating the relationship between victimization and depressive symptoms (the indirect effect) and with witnessing as a moderator of the indirect effect. For all students, shame mediated the relationship between victimization and depressive symptoms. For female students, there was a buffering effect of witnessing, whereby the indirect effect was weaker at high levels of witnessing. These findings have potential implications for theory and intervention, suggesting the importance of examining young people’s social contexts to better understand their responses to sexual harassment.

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