Hannah Redman

I am a first year PhD student, who joined the School in September 2024. Previously, I studied at Durham University, receiving a BA in Geography. I then completed an MA in Politics and International Relations, with an emphasis on Political Theory, at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs (SGIA). I was proud to receive SGIA's award for Best PGT Dissertation of the year, which explored how Habermas's theories of public space & democratic deliberation could be applied to public debating programmes, such as BBC Question Time.

The importance of the form of testimonial narratives in efforts to prevent public sexual harassment of women in the UK

This research aims to explore the importance of narrative form in their capacity to influence attitudinal and behavioural change in men in public spaces. Storytelling narratives refer to experiences communicated through verbal or written mediums, using normalised structures to combine spatial and emotive details. This research will focus on testimonial narratives of Public Sexual Harassment (PSH), which includes instances of catcalling, wolf-whistling and flashing. I aim to research the extent to which these details can be portrayed through the medium of public service announcement-style (PSA) videos. Multiple Mayoral Combined Authorities have produced PSA-style videos directed towards men, using male actors to illustrate instances of PSH. I propose to examine why these production choices have been made, and analyse the extent to which testimonial narratives have been used in behind-of-camera production processes.

The proposed research aims to – following a feminist participatory action methodology – promote testimonial narratives, as female survivors are best placed to challenge patriarchal narratives minimising PSH experiences. Reflexive, semi-structured interviews will be used to collect a diverse selection of PSH narratives. Diversity of narratives refers not only to demographic features such as ethnicity and age of participants, but also to the diverse selection of geographical spaces in which PSH can occur. I intend to analyse the narratives provided in the interview setting according to their relative spatial and emotive detail, to simultaneously explore the normative conventions surrounding the structure of gender-based storytelling, and to consider how these diverse narrative elements may be conveyed in a short-form, PSA video format. The testimonial narratives may be so diverse that a series of national PSA videos would be more appropriate, to account for how space impacts the experience of PSH, and the cultural specificities attached to those geographically diverse communities.

Supervisors: Prof Richard Phillips, Prof Sally Hines