This presentation seeks to examine the power of autobiographical narrative as a methodological and epistemological tool to articulate the institutional mechanisms that perpetuate, obscure, and normalise the micro-realities of sexism and sexual harassment within educational workspaces. Using self-narrative as a de/reconstructive process, and by foregrounding the situated perspective of the survivor-researcher, this work presents a series of evocative vignettes to illuminate how sexual harassment is enacted through gendered discourse, the normalisation of sexist practices, and the operation of power relations that determine whose voices are amplified and whose are silenced.
Drawing on the research conducted for my doctoral dissertation, this inquiry integrates personal testimony, empirical data, and historical analysis to examine the circulation of power within institutional relationships, as well as the fluid and often contested nature of identity as it is shaped by specific socio-cultural and institutional contexts. Weaving between experiences of vulnerability and critical reflexivity, my research explores the gendered power dynamics that render it difficult to name, challenge, and push back against incidents of sexual harassment within educational institutions.
Positioned as a retrospective reflection framed through the lens of complaint, this presentation explores the interconnections between subjectivity, power, and institutional culture. It highlights the ways in which identity, gender, and self-knowledge are frequently constrained by embedded power structures that serve to privilege some positionalities while marginalising others.
Despite a reported increase in disclosures of workplace sexual harassment over the past decade, adult-to-adult sexual misconduct in Australian educational settings remains an under-researched and insufficiently addressed phenomenon. This presentation aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex social dynamics and challenges faced by women in educational work environments. It further explores how sexism operates as a shifting and adaptive force that not only obscures incidents of harassment but also relocates accountability away from perpetrators and institutional structures.