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In relation to bullying, it takes numerous forms and unfortunately, too many people still only associate bullying with the dysfunctional playground bully stealing dinner money from a younger pupil. Equally, all too often no one has ever wanted to deal with bullying even where the consequences have proven to be fatal. Recall the poor young girl who was profiled on 'That's Life' back in 1992 who had been bullied by her classmates to the extent that she took her own life. Why was no action taken against those responsible who themselves could even be 'respectable' and 'popular' people today? Needless to say that bullying at school and also in the workplace can and does cause long-term adverse effects for people both in terms of their physical and their mental health.

Having been in the legal profession for many years, I have both witnessed and heard accounts of bullying from colleagues and friends alike. Examples have included people not talking to or sitting next to new fee-earners either during the working day nor at lunch and at social events too, young women refusing to get in a lift when there was a man there and even some female lawyers making crude comments about what they'd like to do to certain male staff members and also mocking their clothes. There was also once a male boss in an open-plan office who enjoyed going around the office and humiliating certain members of staff and even making them cry. What was also disturbing to see was that far from being true to their traditional 'caring' nature, women of all ages, rather than rushing to help the victims, seemed quite happy to join in the bullying. This does remind you a bit of Professor Milgram's experiments in the 1960s which showed that women were more likely to do bad things, particularly where money was involved and/or someone in authority told them to do so. This also ties in with most people being agreed that female bosses tend to be worse than male bosses as power corrupts them more quickly. In relation to HR Departments, the frequent and almost pathetically amusing complaint is that with anyone who goes to HR regarding bullying, that HR Department will do everything to try and stop that person from making a formal complaint.

Anyhow, whilst bullying inevitably affects both men and women in similar ways, as long as nothing concrete is done about it, particularly in relation to even acknowledging the many forms bullying can take, this problem will persist indefinitely.

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