As a survivor of multiple forms of abuse, I agree that power abuse is more harmful than sexual harassment, and I have thought deeply about why this is true. In my experience, physical, sexual, verbal, psychological, financial, workplace, and identity-targeted abuse are all aspects of one gross monstrosity: the malicious abuse of power to steal another person’s dignity, resources, and status for self-gratification and unmerited gain. The more insidious and subtle psychological aggressions hit harder because they are directed at a target’s essential character and worth, leaving hidden scars that can persist over years and decades. The more blatant physical abuses focus on external traits and can typically be resolved by changing the circumstances, and physical bruises fade much more quickly than mental and emotional trauma. When complications of psychological abuse are absent, it is far easier for a target of assault or sexual harassment to assign blame appropriately on the perpetrator. However, anytime psychological aggression is involved, the victim is encouraged to accept blame, shame, and guilt. This creates an unbearable cognitive dissonance that can warp a person’s sense of self to the degree that they begin to believe their own fundamental unworthiness, not the perpetrator’s misconduct, was the ultimate cause of the abuse. That is what makes psychological abuse so malignant.
Dealing with a micromanager in his early 20s who got the job via nepotism, and immediately promoted to supervisor. Now hes 'training me' talking to me like i just started the job yesterday. Wow, incredible, youve got to shake your head in disbelief. And of course hes the middle man that lets management know what im like.
I think ppl who benefit from favorotism need to convince of their value by comparisons because they have no reason to believe in their superiority but they want to believe it anyway.
