Journalists, harassment, and emotional labor: The case of women in on-air roles at US local television stations

At a time of growing threats to the press worldwide, including in supposedly ‘safe’ developed democracies, this article explores the nature of harassment perpetrated by strangers, one-time sources, and viewers against women broadcast journalists working at US local television stations. The study investigates the emotional labor – the work of managing one’s emotions to keep others happy – that is required for journalists negotiating such harassment. Through qualitative interviews, our research shows that women in such roles face four main types of harassment: (1) disruptive in-person harassment, (2) physical and abrasive in-person harassment, (3) online harassment as unwanted sexual advances, and (4) online harassment as threats and criticisms. We find that women perform a significant degree of emotional labor as they regularly deal with harassment and simultaneously attempt to mitigate or prevent further harassment.

Inhabiting the Uninhibited

This chapter analyzes how feminine sexuality is articulated in the contemporary Babalon discourse. The idea that female sexuality has been repressed, and that women are in need of sexual liberation, is a recurring trope in the source material. Babalon is frequently conceptualized as a sexually liberated woman. She is also associated with sexual modalities outside of the sexual norm (e.g., sex work, BDSM, and nonmonogamy). My interviewees critique expectations of female sexual availability resulting from notions of Babalon as a “sex goddess,” and they emphasize the right to decline unwanted sexual advances. I argue that understandings of feminine sexuality in the contemporary Babalon discourse show influence from (sex positive) feminism and broader discourses on sacred sexuality, with concepts of “sacred whoredom” recurring. I also contend that notions of universally repressed female sexuality, prevalent in the Babalon discourse, obscure racialized and classed inequalities between groups of women and femininities.

No Straight Answer: Homophobia as Both an Aggravating and Mitigating Factor in New Zealand Homicide Cases

This article discusses recent New Zealand homicide cases in which male defendants have sought to rely on the partial defence of provocation to excuse the killing of a man who allegedly made them the subject of unwanted sexual advances. The author argues that at least in cases in which such claims are unsuccessful, reference should be made to section 9(1)(h) of the Sentencing Act 2002, which renders homophobia an aggravating feature in sentencing. To the extent that section 9(1)(h) is not relied on, while provocation is successfully pleaded in some cases, the author concludes that gay male citizens are not afforded equal protection under the criminal law.