A term that I stumbled across a few years ago is “hermeneutical injustice”, a phrase that was coined in response to sexual harassment in the 70s and onwards. It refers to when people who have faced an injustice don’t have the language to be able to talk about their experiences properly, which inhibits their ability to personally process their experiences, as well as making it harder to organise against the systemic injustice they had faced. It’s effectively an extra layer of systemic injustice on top of what they have already experienced.
Linking this to something concrete, we can look at the fact that when women were first entering the workplace in the 60s and 70s, “sexual harassment” wasn’t a term that existed, and women who experienced it struggled to communicate their experiences authentically. “What do you mean you’re upset because your boss bought you flowers? He’s just being nice”.
“Sexual harassment” being coined made it possible for people (especially women) to talk about their experiences in the workplace in a manner that led to some structural change. Whilst it’s still depressingly common in the workplace, as you highlight in your comment, we have come a long way.
That to me is the really surreal part of all this — the fact that if you existed in the 70s, you’d be far less likely to even notice problematic conduct such as that seen in Mad Men
![Realization [PizzaCake]](https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/58eacea0-b255-4a2d-b579-35265a7cffee.png){kind=link}
I remember My mother thinking the TV series Mad Men was too real because she worked in the late 70s and was sexually harassed as a 20 year old.
It’s all wild to me, The reception in my office are all like my little sisters, I just want to protect them and annoy them.
A term that I stumbled across a few years ago is “hermeneutical injustice”, a phrase that was coined in response to sexual harassment in the 70s and onwards. It refers to when people who have faced an injustice don’t have the language to be able to talk about their experiences properly, which inhibits their ability to personally process their experiences, as well as making it harder to organise against the systemic injustice they had faced. It’s effectively an extra layer of systemic injustice on top of what they have already experienced.
Linking this to something concrete, we can look at the fact that when women were first entering the workplace in the 60s and 70s, “sexual harassment” wasn’t a term that existed, and women who experienced it struggled to communicate their experiences authentically. “What do you mean you’re upset because your boss bought you flowers? He’s just being nice”.
“Sexual harassment” being coined made it possible for people (especially women) to talk about their experiences in the workplace in a manner that led to some structural change. Whilst it’s still depressingly common in the workplace, as you highlight in your comment, we have come a long way.
That to me is the really surreal part of all this — the fact that if you existed in the 70s, you’d be far less likely to even notice problematic conduct such as that seen in Mad Men
Very interesting, thankyou
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francine_Gottfried
Easy example of what women had to deal with back then.