@article{ref1,
title="Coping with sexual harassment: the experience of young working women in Italy",
journal="Journal of gender-based violence",
year="2020",
author="Beltramini, Lucia and Bastiani, Federica and Feresin, Mariachiara and Romito, Patrizia",
volume="4",
number="1",
pages="25-40",
abstract="The aims of this qualitative study were to describe sexual harassment (SH) as experienced by young Italian women in the workplace and to analyse their reactions and forms of resistance. A sample of 20 university students who mostly held casual jobs was recruited at one university and interviewed in 2017‐18; the transcriptions were analysed using a thematic method.   Respondents experienced multiple forms of SH, from sexual comments and requests to physical contacts, carried out by male employers, co-workers and customers. Often SH had a pronounced pornographic nature, and occasionally women were treated as 'prostitutes'; dress-code implied 'dressing sexily', and becomes a form of SH.   All women evaluated these behaviours as inappropriate, but no one considered making a formal complaint. They reported confusion, attempts to minimise, going along with a smile, asking the help of colleagues, and using the boyfriend as a protector. Few took direct actions such as confronting the harassers, retaliating or complaining to the employer. Notwithstanding the hostility and humiliation experienced, the young women interviewed retained a strong sense of their dignity as workers, which can count as another form of resistance to a system that consistently tries to objectify them and disqualify them as workers.   Keywords: female university students; gender; sexual harassment; sexualised labour; women<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2398-6808",
doi="10.1332/239868019X15764492137636",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/239868019X15764492137636"
}