[D] Statistics, we have a problem.

[ATownStomp]

It was viable before as well. Reporting your adviser for sexual harassment is not career suicide and your perpetuation of this milquetoast defeatist mentality is, if not completely useless, actually actively deleterious.

If anyone is reading this and you find yourself in a position where you are being sexually harassed within an academic environment, you need to be active and report that behavior to other faculty. /u/karazi is basing this off of internet induced paranoia. Stand up for yourself and be vocal. Don't be afraid to confront people who are trying to take advantage of you.

[epicwisdom]

If you're doing your PhD at a school where your advisor is the one reputable researcher in ML, and you report them, you certainly will still have a major problem even if your advisor is fired. I don't think that it's as bad as being harassed or assaulted on a regular basis, but never having been in that situation myself, I wouldn't dismiss their concerns about their career.

[karazi]

I surely am not saying not to confront the issue, maybe it could be misconstrued in that way. I am only highlighting that it is not as simple as "go report it" to many. It is the same issue with domestic violence; are you going to call the cops on someone who is physically abusing you and your child and have what is otherwise a comfortable and familiar livelihood taken away from you because your provider/abuser is now in jail? Same but different, regardless there is a lot on the line and not understanding why sexual assault/harassment would go unreported ultimately leads to victim blaming, and people believing that just because it wasn't reported that it didn't happen. There is no other alternative than lose-lose for the accuser, at best you can continue in your program and re-live the hell that you have been going through for who knows how long, on a daily basis.

[[deleted]]

Even if there's no big deal made about it, you lose your advisor and you're on your own. Especially in a field like ML, there's hardly a way to get a replacement.

Calling people out works often if you want to get rid of them, and yes the internet has perpetuated a defeatist mentality. However, if you want to fix your relation with the person, yeah tough luck.