The Borders of Personal and Political: Argumentative Analysis of a (Possible) Sexual Harassment Case in the “#MeToo Era”

Abstract

Facilitated by the widespread use of the communication tool #MeToo, the online public space has been opening up to survivor stories and is providing interpersonal emotional support to individuals with experiences of sexual harassment or violence. Witnessing the widespread and collective demand for de-stigmatised survivor-centred and empowering approaches to violence, the scholarly community has been discussing these events as the example of (feminist) counter-publics with counter-narratives, or as the "transformative politics of visibility". This case study contemplates the reactionary forces, focusing on negotiating discursive practices which aim to resist (feminist) counter-narratives in the Slovak online environment. We wish to enrich the existing literature by drawing on the developing scholarship of discourse analysis studies in the "#MeToo era" and by looking at the argumentative strategies applied by the discussants with regards to one (potential) case of sexual harassment. We do so by proposing to treat the interpretative frameworks of the discussants as stemming from experiences with dominant media narratives, and as being built around the discursive negotiations of "public-private space" and "personalpolitical issues", well-known to feminist theorisations of sexual harassment and violence since the 1970s.

The Sexual Subjectivity of Women, Agency, and Empowerment: A Critical Conceptual Analysis

“…Na Slovensku chýba aj podpora vzdelávania v oblasti prevencie sexuálneho obťažovania, vrátane zapojenia médií o šírení informácií o problematike obťažovania; nemožno opomenúť ani skôr negatívne odozvy v slovenských médiách na kampaň #MeToo (Valkovičová, Kuruc 2020). Na Slovensku nie je výnimkou trivializácia a legitimizácia prípadov obťažovania, vrátane presúvania zodpovednosti na osobu dotknutú obťažovaním -v duchu a v nadväznosti na postfeministickú rétoriku s dôrazom na individuálnu zodpovednosť (Valkovičová 2021). Tieto skutočnosti sú podčiarkované prítomnosťou antirodových diskurzov, ktoré vstupujú do diskusie o sexuálnej výchove na Slovensku.…”