Framing Devices on Sexual Harassment Narratives

Framing Device

Explanation

Accepting dominant interests

Sexual harassment accepted or justified as a less important problem than other managerial concerns

Simple misunderstanding

Sexual harassment accepted or justified as “mere flirting”

Reification

Sexual harassment accepted or justified as “the way things are”

Trivialization

Sexual harassment accepted or justified as “a harmless joke”

Denotative hesitancy

Sexually harassing encounter not defined by the term sexual harassment

Public/private expression— public/private domain

Sexual harassment described as part of private—rather than public—life or described using private forms of expression (e.g., embarrassment, fear)