El acoso laboral y sexual a las mujeres en la novela española del siglo XXI

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the manifestations of mobbing and sexual harassment as a social phenomenon in current Spanish literature. To do this, it is assumed as a basic premise that there is an existing gap between regulations, statistics and reality regarding the presence of harassment in the Spanish labor market, based on the very nature of the phenomenon. This means that the lack of transparency and the controversial state of this practice do not allow a balance between the officially represented cases and those that have actually occurred to be established. Hence, the current novel is interpreted as a complementary source of information, which allows a reader to learn about the concept of mobbing and sexual harassment from the perspective of the victim. The thesis is organized into two theoretical frameworks that have different approaches: literary and socio-anthropological. The former highlights two types of novels of social denunciation that, although they present no novelty, adapt to the effects of globalization and the changes produced in the reality of the 21st century: realistic engaged novel and testimonial novel. Starting from the fact that the stories of the former are credible but fictional, while those of the latter are authentic, the background and the historical development of both types of novels are presented, as well as their manifestations and some representative works in current Spanish literature. Following this typology, a corpus of six novels with a series of common features is established: they are all published in Spain in the 21st century, they have an engaging nature, with mobbing and/or sexual harassment as the central theme and female protagonists. Three of them document real cases of harassment (testimonial novels), while the other three are based on fictional characters and plots (realistic engaged novels). This structure makes it possible to establish a relationship between the aspects of novels of social denunciation, on the one hand, and the author's role and the internal logic of the novels of the corpus, on the other. The second theoretical framework summarizes the current situation of Spanish women in the workplace and focuses on explaining the concept of mobbing and sexual harassment from a psycho-sociological perspective (its etymology and meaning, the profile of the harasser and the victim, phases and types of harassment and its multiple consequences), as well as differences between laws, statistics and reality, in terms of victims’ rights and the occurred and registered cases. By establishing the bases of the thesis, the center of the investigation is transferred to the manifestations of mobbing and sexual harassment in the novels of the corpus. In this sense, the main characters personalities, the factors that have influenced their development and the key elements of their transformation are presented. On the other hand, the common features of the aggressive personality of the six harassers and their relationship with the victim are analyzed. Likewise, the phases and consequences of the harassment experienced by female protagonists are presented, highlighting in particular two fundamental concepts: victim blaming and secondary victimization. This approach allows establishing a relationship between the novels of the corpus and reality, through the symbology of their titles and the messages and criticisms that they entail. Finally, the structure of this interdisciplinary study allows evaluating the conclusions reached in both theoretical frameworks, pointing out the indications of the gender perspective that, although the predominant nature of the thesis is literary and socio-anthropological, is inevitably present, and offering a comprehensive overview of aspects of mobbing and sexual harassment that can be known through the current novel and the reading of a specific, real or realistic, case. In fact, uniting the stories of these six novels and interrelating them with the current historical context, we come to the conclusion that the protagonists represent a group of employed women who are forced to face different forms of gender discrimination in their workplace. Likewise, the novels of the corpus introduce new ways of interpreting the concept of mobbing and sexual harassment, and aim to generate awareness among the general public and the corresponding institutions about the real presence of these two types of adverse social behavior in the workplace, which actually represent a consequence of the power relations between men and women. Finally, this points out the multiple facets of the novels of the corpus: informative, educational, ethical and denunciatory. NOVELAS DEL CORPUS / NOVELS OF THE CORPUS BANDRÉS SÁNCHEZ-CRUZAT, Carmen (2004). Danza de máscaras. Madrid: Huerga y Fierro editores. BALLMAN, Enma (2013). La mano del arquero. Madrid: Bubok Publishing. CHAVARRÍA, María Ángeles (2005). El Anónimo. Madrid: Sepha. LOZANO, Irene (2015). No, mi general. Barcelona: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial. MARTÍN VERDUGO, Chelo (2008). Tiritando. Una historia de acoso laboral. Barcelona: Plataforma Editorial. MILLÁS, Juan José (2013). 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