Very important blog that colleagues affiliated to different fields and/or learned societies can learn from. Via @interactionsMag https://twitter.com/jeffbigham/status/1273361369149190144

"Until one is on the receiving end of such demands, one cannot understand their toll and inhibitory effects. These effects are magnified exponentially when applied to those less powerful." - @jcmankoff

Having suffered (and continue to suffer until today) the toll and inhibitory effects of aggressive demands and coercion as a junior member of staff in the past (in an altogether different context and environment) I can vouch for the urgency for a cultural change.

It is not normal to continue having nightmares about telling-offs by senior colleagues, and it's not an issue of personal professional resilience. If @jcmankoff, as "extremely senior" suffered such experience, imagine what's like when one has just recently joined an org.

I've kept quiet for a very long time, and do not share this without significant apprehension. But bullying and discrimination thrive in the opacity of coercive non-disclosure agreements and disempower individuals from seeking support.

This is an experience which is not unique- it's not personal only even if each of us experience it in the most utterly personal way, it's a collective, cultural problem deeply ingrained in legacy hierarchical structures and dynamics. It's everyone's problem.

P.S. to clarify the 4th tweet in this thread, it's me who has had continues to have nightmares. I meant to say I fully empathise with @jcmankoff's experience as described in her post, the unique circumstances notwithstanding. https://interactions.acm.org/blog/view/a-challenging-response

It's interesting as well that if one is a "mature" junior member of staff (in the sense we talk about "mature students") then it's kinda harder for others to understand that professional seniority does not always correlate with age or appearance. Middle-aged men get bullied too.