Content area
Full text
ABSTRACT This article analyses the previously unresearched dynamics of sexual harassment in cross-gender, one-to-one PhD supervision in a UK social science faculty education department. I discuss two women research students' reflections on their supervisor relationships with a sexually harassing male supervisor, including the processes of obtaining a supervisor and the establishment or curtailment of the relationship. When students decide whether or not to be supervised by a particular individual there is a tension between personal compatibility and relevant research expertise. Once the relationship is established there is a further tension because the boundaries between discussions about academic work and personal life are so easily blurred. In particular, it is suggested that the sexually harassing male supervisor cannot simply be viewed as an aberration, for his exploits reveal a strategic exploitation of conditions which are actually integral and arguably necessary to this distinctive academic relationship.
Introduction
In this article, I offer a qualitative analysis of the dynamics of women's experiences of (hetero)sexual harassment perpetrated by a man in a specific type and location of PhD supervision. The focus is on women's reflections upon their one-to-one supervisory relationships with a sexually harassing male supervisor in a UK social science faculty education department. I explore the processes of obtaining a supervisor and the establishment or curtailment of the relationship. I investigate a potential tension between personal compatibility and relevant research expertise when students decide whether or not they will agree to be supervised by a particular individual. I discuss the easily blurred boundaries between academic work and personal life which may develop in supervisor student interaction. As such, I seek to make original interventions into the debates concerning the character of sexual harassment in UK higher education (e.g. Bagilhole & Woodward, 1995) and why student supervisor interaction may be problematic (e.g. Hockey, 1994, 1995).
My two interviewees---Kate and Emma-are white, British, heterosexual, single and in their twenties. At the time of the interview they were both full-time, first year doctoral researchers in a south of England university. They were both supervised individually by the same man, a very highly regarded expert in his field. The supervisor is white, middle-aged and married. Hc has not yet acquired a reputation as a sexual harasser [1]. Yet Emma explained that...