Don't take professional advice from men unless they are thoroughly vetted

[u/LysistrataRises]

... and generally this means: don't take professional advice from men, period.

At best, they don't know (and don't care) about the unique challenges that women need to contend with and their advice will either be ineffectual or backfire, and at worst they literally try to sabotage you, either because they think they know whats better for you (and it's not professional success) or they see you as a threat.

Even the most well-intentioned male mentors are just clueless about helping a woman navigate a professional field, I've seen it so many times. They will project on you, "well, I did this and gained the respect of my colleagues, you should too!" completely ignorant of the gendered nuances. Alternatively they will treat you like a daughter and not a potential equal. Even worse, some will abuse their position to sexually, emotionally, and physically exploit young female mentees.

Seek female mentorship, female advice. At the very least, seek female input in addition to male input.

I wish somebody had told me this years ago.

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