I’m not sure whether my experience can be strictly categorised under sexism, but I guess it’s related and serves no harm to share. I’m (very luckily) studying in one of those “woke” institutions, and there’s quite a lot of feminists around me. Being in this environment, I find it difficult to accept and appreciate kind actions from guys, because I’ll be extra conscious about whether I’m succumbing to gender norms. “Does it make me a weak woman if I allow him to open this door for me?” Thoughts like this would come to my mind. This is one of the things that prevents me from forming intimate relationships with guys. It’s also a barrier to me finding boyfriends because I would be so extremely conscious about avoiding guys who would subject me to gender roles. This whole problem definitely isn’t the direct fault of the guys who tried to do kind things to me. It’s just really annoying how social constructs is acting like a third-party preventing me from maximising my fulfilment in human relationships
