A1 Journal article (refereed)
Between agency and uncertainty : Young women and men constructing citizenship through stories of sexual harassment (2022)


Honkatukia, P., Peltola, M., Aho, T., & Saukkonen, R. (2022). Between agency and uncertainty : Young women and men constructing citizenship through stories of sexual harassment. Journal of Social Issues, Early View. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12512


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editorsHonkatukia, Päivi; Peltola, Marja; Aho, Timo; Saukkonen, Roosa

Journal or seriesJournal of Social Issues

ISSN0022-4537

eISSN1540-4560

Publication year2022

Publication date11/06/2022

VolumeEarly View

PublisherWiley

Publication countryUnited States

Publication languageEnglish

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12512

Publication open accessOpenly available

Publication channel open accessPartially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX)https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/82729


Abstract

In this article, we examine young people's narratives on sexual harassment on how it is endured, objected, observed, and negotiated in diverse everyday life environments. The article is based on an analysis of thematic interviews with 36 young people aged 15–19 living in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, Finland. Altogether 23 young women and 13 young men participated in the interviews which were conducted at educational institutions as individual, paired or group interviews. We analyze young people's narratives on sexual harassment as stories of everyday citizenship and, and more precisely, as acts of citizenship. We have also applied the concept of respectability to study how young women and men construct respectable sexual citizenship. We found out that whereas female respectability suggests that young women should be able to protect their sexual integrity effectively, male respectability expects young men to effectively balance between different positions of masculinity. While young people widely condemn sexual harassment and recognize it as discrimination, the gendered ways of constructing respectability, however, maintain the moral double standard by which young women remain the gatekeepers of sexual consent and young men test its boundaries.


Keywordsyoung peoplesexual harassmentexperiences (knowledge)attitudessocial normscitizenshiphuman agencygender roles

Fields of science:


Contributing organizations


Ministry reportingYes

Reporting Year2022

JUFO rating2


Last updated on 2024-25-03 at 10:10