Abstract
Since the 2017 #MeToo movement – which built on Tarana Burke’s 2006 campaign – screen industries content about gender-based violence has increased in volume, visibility and complexity (Banet-Weiser & Higgins, 2023; De Benedictis et al., 2019). At the same time, evidence has emerged revealing the extent of sexual harassment that occurs within the industries that produce this content. This chapter examines the intersection between representations of gender-based violence in the UK screen industries and the gendered culture of workplaces in which this content is produced. It draws on a study of 18 workers in the UK screen industries who had been subjected to sexual harassment or violence at work since 2017, focusing on a subset of these accounts in which interviewees described producing content relating to gender-based violence, harassment or sexuality – across journalism, factual entertainment, and drama/comedy – at the same time as negotiating sexual harassment or violence within the workplace in which this material was being produced.
The chapter explores three ways in which the conditions of cultural production in the UK screen industries affected representations of gender-based violence, and conversely how these representations acted back on conditions of production: first, how workplace cultures influenced the content produced; second, where content related to gender-based violence and sexuality acted back on workplace culture and women’s agency; and third, where there was a stark contradiction or disjuncture between workplace culture and content. These findings reveal a complex picture of how cultural production and content relating to gender-based violence and sexuality are intersecting in the UK screen industries. Overall, the chapter argues that content on gender-based violence needs to be produced in conditions of safety that support women’s and other survivors’ creative freedom to tell these stories in complex and varied ways.
The chapter explores three ways in which the conditions of cultural production in the UK screen industries affected representations of gender-based violence, and conversely how these representations acted back on conditions of production: first, how workplace cultures influenced the content produced; second, where content related to gender-based violence and sexuality acted back on workplace culture and women’s agency; and third, where there was a stark contradiction or disjuncture between workplace culture and content. These findings reveal a complex picture of how cultural production and content relating to gender-based violence and sexuality are intersecting in the UK screen industries. Overall, the chapter argues that content on gender-based violence needs to be produced in conditions of safety that support women’s and other survivors’ creative freedom to tell these stories in complex and varied ways.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Gender-Based Violence in Arts and Culture. Perspectives on Education and Work |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 11 Oct 2024 |