Excluding Power from a Narrative: Sexual Harassment in a Criminal Law Reform




Johanna Niemi

Ulrika Andersson, Monika Edgren, Lena Karlsson, Gabriella Nilsson

Cham

2019

Rape Narratives in Motion

Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture

17

41

15

978-3-030-13851-6

978-3-030-13852-3

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13852-3_2



In discourses on sexual harassment abuse of power is usually present. Often the perpetrators are in positions of power and, if not, they benefit from a culture that protects the practices against women and others in less powerful positions. However, the power relations are not always acknowledged. This chapter presents a law reform to criminalize sexual harassment that was presented and handled in the Finnish Parliament without discussion on the power relations in harassment. The chapter discusses the consequences of the dismissal of the power dimension in the formulation of the new law, which is limited to touching, and in the implementation of the new law, in which more serious sexual violations are processed as sexual harassment.



Last updated on 26/11/2024 11:31:08 PM