Sexual Transgressions in Aid: Humanitarian Perceptions and Responses

In the context of power and inequality inherent to humanitarianism, STAid explores how humanitarian actors perceive and respond to sexual transgressions. While #AidToo pushed for complaint mechanisms, which are increasingly being digitalized, low levels of reporting persist. Working with two major Danish organizations, we focus on the plurality of perspectives about what ‘counts’ as transgressive behavior. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of transgression to explain processes that create perceptions of limits and through the lens of intersectionality, we analyze tensions between multiple layers of influence (subjective, institutional, cultural, structural) on embedded norms and practices. With interdisciplinary perspectives from philosophy, organizational theory, and anthropology, we focus on organizational concepts of responsibility; accounts of unsafe spaces by international aid workers who returned from postings; and local perceptions of transgressions and digital response in the field.

#AidToo and growing attention to scandals of sexual misconduct in humanitarian organizations have profoundly shaken the sector. Devoted to protecting lives and human dignity, humanitarian actors navigate the dilemma of doing good in a context of power and inequality. Aid workers have witnessed, and in some cases experienced, sexual harassment and assault, homophobic comments, and transactional sex. While naming sexual misconduct has long been tabued, sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH) has now found a name. Organizations have introduced complaint systems, whistleblower policies, and ‘zero tolerance’ principles. Humanitarian actors increasingly embrace digitalization of complaint mechanisms as part of the digital turn in addressing risks. Yet, low levels of reporting persist. Despite public and academic debates around #MeToo, there is little research on the plurality of perspectives about what counts as sexual transgression which influence decisions to report. Working with major humanitarian organizations, we focus on the plurality of perspectives about what ‘counts’ as transgressive behavior. STAid navigates in this charged environment by adopting the language of transgression to ask how limits are drawn, destabilized, and reaffirmed within spaces of aid. With interdisciplinary perspectives from philosophy, organizational theory, and anthropology, we focus on organizational concepts of responsibility; accounts of unsafe spaces by international aid workers who returned from postings; and local perceptions of transgressions and digital response in the field.