As a (somewhat) senior, I think its very hard to distance yourself from the core belief age == knows more. Its not just mansplaining (although I am sure I do this, hateful though it is) -It's like the human DNA is baked in to assume something which palpably isn't true, and frankly has never <i>been</i> true.<p>The humiliating behaviour part is simply unacceptable. You might need to talk to HR and ask them to remind senior staffers not to do this, and that annual review process includes feedback on this kind of thing. The problem there being if you can be identified by context, you get all the negativity which goes with that kind of thing.<p>They sound like asshats, frankly. Is it possible they just need to be told to can the ass-hattery?<p>Bullies sometimes can't be stopped. They have to be avoided. The problem is that senior bullies are glued in place.<p>A cheats way out would be this:<p>actors: Ron, Frank (seniors) and Debby (junior, or disrespected less-senior)<p>Debby: hey, Ron, I think I heard frank say <theory of debby><p>Ron: oh yea, thats true and cool<p>Debby: hey, Frank, I think I heard ron say <theory of debby><p>Frank: oh, Ron, he's a complete twonk. Thats rubbish this is why...<p>Another cheats way out might be "..I read in Knuth that ..." or "Van Jacobsen said to me that ..." which puts the words into somebody else's mouth.<p>I read that to overcome the same structural behaviours in the Astrophysics community, some senior astronomers took to asking questions for PhDs because they weren't getting traction, and I have also read that Nils Bohr and others used to commit deliberate solecisms in workshops, to remind people anyone can make mistakes and encourage junior staff to speak out and correct them. Which is kind-of sad, manipulative, but what it says is "this is a problem of some long time.. " oh wait.. sorry.. sorry.. I'm doing it again...