Gender, HIV and Sexualities Seminar: 21 May 2019

Why not me? Reflections on running sexual harassment workshops

By Pierre Brouard, CSA&G, University of Pretoria

This paper asks “Why not me”? When I am confronted with the daily indignities of (mostly) women, in the street, in the classroom, in the boardroom, and I have not examined my own behaviour as a man, should I ask “why not me”? When I see gender stereotypes and gender power plays in multiple contexts, and I don’t challenge them, should I ask “why not me”? When I think back on my experiences of harassment which I ignored, denied or felt too weary to challenge, because patriarchy is pervasive, should  I ask “why not me”? When I run a sexual harassment workshop as a man, and I am challenged about whether this is right, because men are complicit, can I ask “why not me”? Beyond “why not me”? the paper asks if sexual harassment work “works”, looks at the evidence and opens a debate on what an appropriate response to #MeToo could look like in 2019.