When you hear the words "harassment" and "workplace" together you probably automatically insert "sexual" in there somewhere, don't you? Although sexual harassment does seem to get most of the press these days (sex sells, I guess) there's an even bigger threat lurking out there: workplace harassment in the form of bullying.

Surprised? Some of you might be thinking that bullying is something that doesn't survive past the school-age years, but a whopping 37% of you have a real idea what being bullied at work means -- at least that's how many people have experienced it according to this article in The New York Times. That's more than 1/3 of us! Can that be right?

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Bullying was a definite part of my childhood, though other students were either the victim or the perpetrator much more often than I. Even when you try to stay away from it, it affects you -- at least, that's the lesson I learned throughout my school years. Do you agree?

A government official in Britain, Tim Gill, agrees that's it's a part of life, but he goes on to say that it's a necessary part of life -- it prepares children for the hard knocks they'll encounter later in their adult life.

I can see his point -- sort of. But I don't see how tearing someone down over and over again until they have no shred of self-esteem and are on the verge of depression, suicide or worse is constructive later in life. Minor teasing is one thing, but if you ask me, full-on bullying is something that has very little use to someone at any point in their life. What do you think?

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Why do some kids bully others? The bullied kids may develop emotional issues and a fear of going to school while the bullys perform some kind of power trip on smaller (or smarter) kids.

These days, in-person bullying happens but it can even be done over the internet. In fact, there are task forces now that specifically deal with internet bullying.

Just like a rapist, a bully exhibits power over someone who is unable or unwilling to defend himself or herself. While some attribute bullying to the way it's always been, that is a huge fallacy. The emotional repercussions of a long bullying episode can stay with some kids for life.

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Pretty much everyone was bullied at some point in their childhood. Whether it was by the dominant kid in a social group who never let anyone else decide what games to play, or the traditional big kid on the playground who terrorized every other child, chances are you've had to deal with some form of bullying when you were little.

Many of us think that all gets left behind when we grow up into confident adults, but unfortunately that's not always the case. Have you ever been to one of your kids' sports matches and seen another parent blow up at a referee? Or perhaps you're a part of the PTA and one of the other parents consistently refuses to listen to your suggestions or ignores you altogether? Maybe you dread going to work every day because a gossipy co-worker tries to belittle you with the information he or she spreads to your fellow workers?

According to this, all of the above constitute adult bullying. Even as a grown-up there are people who will try to boost their own confidence by intimidating others and trying to cut them down. If you think you may be a victim of adult bullying, take a look at the piece for suggestions on how to deal with it. If you know someone at work or in your social circle who is being picked on, stand up for them. Much like when with kids, a bully will often back down if they know that no one else is willing to stand for it.

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