ABSTRACT

Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with students who had attempted to report staff sexual misconduct to their higher education institutions in the UK, the article analyses interviewees’ experiences of ‘grooming’ and boundary-blurring behaviours from academic staff where the possibility for consent was affected by the power imbalances between staff and students. The term ‘boundary-blurring’ is used to describe behaviours that transgress (often tacit) professional boundaries, and ‘grooming’ refers to a pattern of these behaviours over time between people in positions of unequal power. This article analyses the power imbalances interviewees described that created the context for these behaviours. These were constituted by social inequalities including gender, class, and age, as well as stemming from students’ position within their institutions. The article also explores how heterosexualised normativity allows such behaviours to be minimised and invisibilised.

摘要

本文利用对试图向英国高等教育机构报告教职工性行为不端的学生进行的定性访谈数据，分析了受访者在同意的可能性受到影响的学术人员“修饰”和界限模糊行为的经历由于教职工和学生之间的权力不平衡。术语“边界模糊”用于描述超越（通常是默认的）职业界限的行为，而“修饰”是指随着时间的推移，处于权力不平等地位的人之间的这些行为模式。本文分析了受访者所描述的为这些行为创造背景的权力失衡。这些由社会不平等构成，包括性别、阶级和年龄，以及源于学生在其机构中的地位。文章还探讨了异性恋规范如何使此类行为最小化和隐形。