It’s time to talk about how the media talks about sexual harassment
- Written by: Rawan Nimri, Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality, Griffith University
Sexual harassment is all too common in hospitality and tourism. One Australian survey found almost half of the respondents had been sexually harassed, compared to about one in three in workplaces more generally.
Hospitality and tourism are marked by intense and close interpersonal interactions and dismissive treatment by some customers, including verbal and physical aggression, bullying and sexual suggestions.
Workers who are young, female, low-paid and casual are especially vulnerable.
The scandals at the Merivale Hospitality Group and Sydney’s Swillhouse restaurant are only the most recent.
The widely held view that “the customer is always right” gives customers power. The power imbalance is magnified where tipping makes up a substantial part of workers’ earnings.
What newspapers report
To examine how sexual harassment is reported, we identified about 2,000 newspaper articles across a number of countries published between 2017 and 2022 dealing with the treatment of hotel room attendants, airline cabin crew and massage therapists. We zeroed in on 273 for closer analysis.
This was a period in which the public awareness of sexual harassment climbed with the rise of the #MeToo movement and media coverage probably peaked.
Media coverage matters because of its effect on public opinion.
Computer-assisted thematic analysis showed four different types of coverage, some overlapping, relating to legal matters, celebrities, power dynamics, and calls to action.
