And my last piece of advice: remind yourself that you are a target, not a victim. Just like targets of sexual harassment, you did nothing wrong to bring on this bad behaviour, and it is not your fault. It is important to remember that you got to your position by hard work and scientific talent. Have confidence to stand up to your bully—by finding allies, drawing on institutional resources and reclaiming your rights.
Higher education perpetuates a sociocultural power imbalance wherein bullying is institutionally enabled as a way to discriminate and marginalize gay people of color”
Abusive supervisors often target specific individuals: some pick on their best workers, but poor performers are especially vulnerable. So are those who are different from their adviser, including in gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation”
reasons for unreported incidents of bullying include, but are not limited to:
- Feelings of insecurity among lab members about their positions and dependence on monthly paychecks
- Lack of robust and easy-to-access institutional protocols for reporting incidence
- Fear of being fired
- Fear of being treated unfairly
- Concerns over receiving substandard recommendations for future job
In separate surveys of tens of thousands of university students across Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, upwards of 40% of respondents say that they have experienced sexual harassment. A survey last year by the US National Postdoctoral Association found that 28% of respondents reported experiencing at least one instance of harassment while they were trainees”
When bullying/mobbing occurs, it tends to be long-standing. McKay et al. (2008) found that 21% of their sample reported bullying that had persisted for more than 5 years“