MALTA
Times of Malta
October 30, 2017
By John Cassar White
The recent incidents alleging sexual harassment by Oscar-winning film producer Harvey Weinstein have opened a window on the dark phenomenon of institutional bullying.
It is wrong to assume that despite the much-publicised abuses of Rolf Harris, Jimmy Saville and now Harvey Weinstein, bullying by powerful people is limited to the world of entertainment.
While there is no universally accepted definition of institutional bullying, many associate bullying with a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in authority that causes either physical or emotional harm. It can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation.
Sexual abuse is just one prevalent form of bullying but there are many others.
The phenomenon of bullying exists in most organisations. In the Church we have all read about the abuse of young vulnerable children by clerics who used their authority to satisfy their lust. Church authorities were far too slow to tackle this problem, much to their own detriment as a multitude of believers lost trust in their pastoral leaders.
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