# Should one's past as an adolescent bully be used against them in adulthood? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131 "2020-10-28T17:36:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/141 "2022-11-11T06:46:41Z")
He’s probably unemployable, period, because he’s an asshole to everybody. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/142 "2022-11-11T15:06:17Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The other half of the equation is: should young female astrophysicists have to work with him to advance their careers, with his track record of sexual harassment? > [@Odesio](#): > > women are frequently found throughout various job sectors, why limit this to academia? If he’s banned from working as an astrophysicist on account of his history of harassment, shouldn’t he be barred from working anywhere where women might also be members of the workforce? Anywhere where he’d be in a position of power over them, more likely. There are plenty of jobs that don’t put the jobholder in a position of significant power over coworkers. They do tend to pay less, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/143 "2022-11-11T15:33:20Z")
Or, the onus is on him to demonstrate that he has changed his behaviour and can be trusted not to harass young women in his lab. But it’s on him. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/144 "2022-11-11T17:12:45Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Given that women are frequently found throughout various job sectors, why limit this to academia I agree, however, the “academia” part is interesting and salient as there has been a fair been of discussion about harassment of women research in the field (eg remote research stations, archeological digs etc). I don’t have specific cites but I’ve seen editorials in Scientific American and similar about this topic. (I’m lumping academia in with scientific research for purposes of this) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/145 "2022-11-11T17:29:31Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Another should-one’s-past-be-used-against-them story is playing out in Finland. Of course, this doesn’t really fit with the OP, as this person was an adult with a position of authority, not an adolescent. > [@carrps](#): > > He “fell in love with one of his grad students,” and then he fired her for it. He sent her reams of emails/texts harrassing her. Creepy stuff. Do you have a cite for this? I am not questioning it, I just couldn’t find it myself. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/146 "2022-11-11T18:20:46Z")
I just read it in one of the links upthread. I can’t remember specifically which one. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/147 "2022-11-11T18:31:12Z")
Huh, I didn’t see it in that link, but after a bit of google effort (it wasn’t exactly at the top), I did find this > **[Caltech professor resigns after investigation finds he harassed female grad...](https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-caltech-professor-resigns-20170802-story.html)** > > A Caltech astrophysics professor found by an internal investigation to have harassed two female graduate students has resigned, the university announced. > [@](#): > > fell in love with one of his graduate assistants, then fired her from her job working with him researching supernovae, BuzzFeed reported. He wrote about his actions and his feelings for the woman in months of messages to another female graduate student, the website said. > > Both women filed harassment complaints about him, according to BuzzFeed. They told the news outlet that they were disappointed that the school took a rehabilitative approach rather than firing Ott. > > The woman Ott was in love with, according to BuzzFeed, did not realize he had romantic feelings for her and thought she had been fired because she had not done her job well. > > Several days after telling the woman he didn’t want to work with her, Ott sent her a message: “Of all my students I cared most about you and I failed in the worst way,” BuzzFeed reported. “My problem is that I don’t want to be in a power position, but I factually am.” > > Ott also posted 86 poems about the woman on his Tumblr page, BuzzFeed reported. The poems have been taken down. This wasn’t a teenager, like the story in the OP, where you could blame it on youthful stupidity, this was a person in their mid-30’s, in a position of authority. Assuming that this is at face value, then no, this person shouldn’t ever be given a position of authority again. He could maybe find a position in academia again, but not if it means having power over other people. (I don’t know how much that limits his options, but that’s not my concern.) He says he doesn’t want to be in a power position, and that’s a preference that I think should be honored. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/148 "2022-11-11T22:53:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Or, the onus is on him to demonstrate that he has changed his behaviour and can be trusted not to harass young women in his lab. But it’s on him. Right. If he can show that we worked to legitimately improve himself, maybe let him back with some strong oversight on a short leash. People should be allowed to change for the better. But I’d think he’d have to be able to convince the women at the institution he’s applying at that he’s made real improvement. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/149 "2022-11-11T22:57:56Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Huh, I didn’t see it in that link, but after a bit of google effort Sorry! I forgot that the link didn’t take me directly to the full story, and I had to google, too. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/150 "2022-11-13T18:53:21Z")
Some people simply Do Not Play Well With Others, and therefore do not live up to their potential. Most of the time, they are also very oblivious to this fact. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131/151 "2022-11-23T21:41:20Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Ott sued two Finnish academicians who organized an open letter denouncing harassment, connected to a complaint about his job offer in Finland (the Finnish _government_ took charge of prosecuting the defamation case and a decision is pending). And… he loses. > The 25-page ruling essentially upholds what the scientists did in trying to block the hiring. The defendants managed to “systemically bring information concerning harassment and discrimination … to the attention of a large number of people,” the judges wrote (as translated by the lawyer for one of the defendants). “This is not prohibited, let alone a criminal offence. On the contrary, this can be considered a matter of such public interest [that] you must be able to openly discuss.” [https://www.science.org/content/article/finnish-astronomers-acquitted-defamation-case-related-protesting-harassment#:~:text=Finnish%20astronomers%20acquitted%20in%20defamation%20case%20related%20to%20protesting%20harassment](https://www.science.org/content/article/finnish-astronomers-acquitted-defamation-case-related-protesting-harassment#:~:text=Finnish%20astronomers%20acquitted%20in%20defamation%20case%20related%20to%20protesting%20harassment) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-ones-past-as-an-adolescent-bully-be-used-against-them-in-adulthood/924131.md?page=7)