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This project aims to investigate the history of sexual slander in the 19th century and its relationship to ideas of race and gender. Working within legal and historical frameworks, it seeks to examine, for the first time, court files and legislative records across the USA, UK and Australia, to understand diverse women’s attempts to redress sexual insults and reputational attacks, and drive law reform.
Expected outcomes include international collaborations and path-breaking works of interdisciplinary history. Significant benefits are expected, including shaping policy and legal strategies in the present to combat the ongoing problem of sexual abuse and harassment, leading to improvements in women’s personal safety and economic wellbeing.
The sexual harassment and abuse of women is a pervasive and pressing problem in Australia. Promoting women’s safety is a key priority for state and federal governments and the broader community. This interdisciplinary project will be the first investigation of the ways in which slander law was reformed in the nineteenth century and used by women of different race and class backgrounds to fight against sexually abusive and harassing speech. By translating court files and legislative records into engaging stories of personal agency linked to social movements, expected benefits include international collaboration, a pathbreaking history of the intersection of gender and race relations, and informed interventions in current policy, legal and media debates about respect for women. Knowledge of women’s historical agency in achieving legal reform is empowering. The project will serve the national interest by contributing significantly to policy and legal strategies to improve women’s ability to redress the harms of sexual abuse, which in turn increases their workforce participation and economic wellbeing.
2023-2025
Dr Jessica Lake, Gender and Women’s History Research Centre
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