Dissertation the Aletheia Project: An

DISSERTATION THE ALETHEIA PROJECT: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Submitted by LindsAy WAgner School of EducAtion In partiAl fulfillment of requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Colorado StAte University Fort Collins, Colorado Summer 2020 Doctoral Committee: Advisor: D-L StewArt SusAna Muñoz Sue Doe Z NicolAzzo Copyright by LindsAy WAgner 2020 All Rights Reserved 2 ABSTRACT THE ALETHEIA PROJECT: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION FACILITIES MANAGEMENT I am a femAle, queer, White, working clAss, androgynous person working in the higher educAtion facilities mAnagement industry. After spending fifteen yeArs at one institution, holding positions ranging from plumber to director of operations, I had lost myself in my work. This study is an autoethnographic exploration of my experiences with sexual harassment and microaggressions in the higher educAtion facilities mAnagement industry. In an effort to mAke sense of my experience I explore the literature to gain an understAnding of what constitutes sexual harassment, theories of why it occurs, and training methods that are being used. I wAs unsAtisfied with what I found. Theories were lArgely based on the gender binary and associAted with heterosexual attraction. Existing reseArch was heAvily quantitAtive leAving little opportunity for exploration of individual experiences. This work aims to fill those gaps in the literature. Using memory recAll exercises, I wrote a personal narrative highlighting experiences throughout my life that are associAted with my identity and sexual harassment. Upon completion, I reAd and rereAd the narrative. When I cAme to a spot with which I wAs uncomfortAble, I stopped And wrote letters to either you—the reAder—or the person involved in the memory. Pseudonyms were used in all the letters. People are only described by their relAtionship to my employment role. These letters allowed me to explore my actions and reActions and gain a better understAnding of my experience. Using intersectionality and affect theory I analyzed these datA ii And discovered that work becomes property much like educAtion and Whiteness. The sexual harassment that I endured and at times participated in wAs not relAted to the gender binary or heterosexual attraction. It wAs a meAns of protecting the work as property. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Studying myself wAs a difficult process. I am grateful for the love and support of my partner, SArah. She endured two yeArs of me being more silent than normAl. She let me be angry And sAd and mAd and depressed and frustrated without having to explAin why. She gave me the space I needed to feel so mAny things I had never allowed myself to feel before. I love you, SArah. Thank you for being you. You are my favorite. This project would not have been possible without The Crew. It seems you alwAys knew when to send words of encouragement. Every time I wAs about to give up, someone would text or cAll. Someone wAs alwAys availAble to review my work or discuss a random ideA. You all pushed me to become a better person and I am grateful. You will all forever be family to me. Thank you. I am grateful for the love and support of my parents. This cAme in the form of constAntly Asking if I wAs done yet, which definitely kept me motivated to finish. I am grateful for the work ethic that you instilled in me. You are both amAzing people that I love deArly. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I am grateful for Dr. StewArt, my advisor, and my committee, Dr. Muñoz, Dr. NicolAzzo, And Dr. Doe. You all supported me, challenged me, and pushed me to be a better reseArcher. I never dreAmed of working with such amAzing reseArchers and scholArs. At first, I wAs terrified to share my work with you. When I did, the outpouring of support wAs incredible. Thank you. iv DEDICATION DeAr Pop, This is for you. Love, LindsAy v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 11 History of Sexual HArassment ................................................................................................... 11 Definitions of Sexual HArassment ......................................................................................... 13 Legal Definitions of Sexual HArassment ............................................................................... 16 VAlues and Beliefs ................................................................................................................. 18 Current Trends and Sexual HArassment Incidence Rates .......................................................... 19 ReActions to Sexual HArassment in Fields Dominated by Cisgender Men ............................... 21 Theories of Sexual HArassment ................................................................................................. 24 The NAtural/BiologicAl Model ............................................................................................... 24 The OrganizAtional Model ..................................................................................................... 25 The Socio-Cultural Model ..................................................................................................... 27 The SeX-Role Spill-Over Model ............................................................................................ 29 Tokenism ............................................................................................................................... 30 Sexual HArassment Training Methods ....................................................................................... 33 Pre-Training and Post-Training ............................................................................................. 34 Delivery Method .................................................................................................................... 35 TheoreticAl Prospective ............................................................................................................. 36 Intersectionality ..................................................................................................................... 36 Being White and Doing Intersectionality .............................................................................. 39 Affect Theory ........................................................................................................................ 40 Intersectionality Plus Affect Theory ..................................................................................... 43 SummAry of the Literature ......................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 45 Positionality StAtement .............................................................................................................. 46 Worldview ................................................................................................................................. 47 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 47 Methods and Analysis ............................................................................................................... 52 vi Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 55 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS .................................................................................................... 56 The Kitchen TAble ..................................................................................................................... 56 The Dress ................................................................................................................................... 57 Flowers ...................................................................................................................................... 58 Fishy .......................................................................................................................................... 59 Boobie All Gone ........................................................................................................................ 59 First Job ..................................................................................................................................... 60 KAthy ......................................................................................................................................... 60 The Sharpie ................................................................................................................................ 61 Second Job ................................................................................................................................. 62 Boobs ........................................................................................................................................

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