I don’t think you were being condescending 🙂 The reason I asked about the word “disrespect” was that it can be used in different ways. Sometimes people feel that they are being disrespected because they expect a certain behavior towards them and do not get what they want. There is a difference between being disrespected as a human being and being disrespected as a man (or a woman). But I think I can understand your situation better now, after your further explanation.

First of all, I’d like to say that it is certainly possible that there is a hostile environment at your workplace and it could be because you’re a man. Anything is possible. All workplaces have their own culture and atmosphere. Some can be terribly dysfunctional. All that it needs is one egoistic or bitter person to make the whole place toxic. If that is the case, I do not know. It’s impossible to say.

Secondly, it makes sense that you might have problems approaching women if you’ve grown up with all brothers and in a strict religious environment. It is much easier for men who have grown up surrounded by women. They know that women aren’t some mystical creatures and there’s no need to be afraid of them. I can understand that it’s different for someone who grew up in a different kind of environment.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with being old-fashioned, but there is a difference in how it can come across. I think that it is really important that what ever you do, however you behave, that you do it with a pure heart, confidence and authenticity.

People, not just women, sense when you do things out of fear, or if you want to manipulate someone or if it’s in some other way a fake gesture. They also sense how much you value yourself, and will treat you accordingly. The combination of fear, not liking yourself and treating women as women first and human beings second can come across in a terrible way. I know you don’t mean it that way, and I do feel for you.

I think it would be so important that you work on liking yourself more. You need love and compassion. A lot of it! It’s not just about your work environment, but other aspects of your life as well. Being true to yourself, accepting yourself as you are and loving yourself stops the second guessing. If someone would still treat you poorly, you’d know that it was their own problems coming to the surface and had nothing to do with you. Could you allow yourself to be open for love, joy, compassion?