Your advisor is ok. He is just looking out for himself. The male advisors that female grad students should worry about are those that are like AB who was married when he met ED and then went through a messy divorce to marry her, or those on the other extreme end - refusing to take on any female students and rejecting female written papers.
Female PhD student here, my advisor insists I leave the door open when we meet
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OP, it’s basic economics. Finance 101 even.
People are risk averse, and closing your door w a female PhD student is like selling OTM puts on an S&P index.
Good chance nothing happens, but if something happens it could ruin him. Don’t take it personally but also consider why the incentives were set up in the first place like this and why men have fear of absolute ruin
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People, OP is a troll.
Yes, a random PhD broette went to EJMR to ask a question which fits exactly the narrative of 90% of people here. /sOP may be a troll, but the world or at least the US is for real full of people like this one:
Two theories: 1) he has been required to do so due to past complaints of sexual harassment 2) he is implementing the Pence Rule. In either case, you should speak to Human Resources and the Dean. You should find out if your advisor has had sexual harassment complaints in the past. Also, in any case, the Pence Rule is illegal discrimination on the basis of sex and if your advisor is discriminating against you in this way, the university needs to know and needs to take the appropriate measures.
You can't win. Either metoo or, to avoid getting metooed, you get sued for discrimination.
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Good story, I'll give you 5/10 on this troll$ng attempt.
Your advisor is just smart. Any accusations of a female student, no matter if true or wrong, and he is done, especially if you are in US or UK.
So he protects himself by avoiding situations in which he is alone with a female and always tries to have a witness around.
I don't see what's wrong with it. His incentives force him to do so.
So as long as he can get cancelled within seconds if some random broette is accusing him of wrongdoing, no matter if true or false, you need to have coffee with somebody else. Or switch supervisors.
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Two theories: 1) he has been required to do so due to past complaints of sexual harassment 2) he is implementing the Pence Rule. In either case, you should speak to Human Resources and the Dean. You should find out if your advisor has had sexual harassment complaints in the past. Also, in any case, the Pence Rule is illegal discrimination on the basis of sex and if your advisor is discriminating against you in this way, the university needs to know and needs to take the appropriate measures.
Please, go and catch åids.
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Female student here, one prof of my course did the same, I closed the door and he opened it. and to be honest, i don't like it because I want to discuss my grade, next year RA opportunity, and other things in life. I see this prof more or less as a friend and wish some privacy for the conversations...
I was very young at that time though(like the early 20s), so a bit naive and clueless, now I get to understand why he did this
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Female student here, one prof of my course did the same, I closed the door and he opened it. and to be honest, i don't like it because I want to discuss my grade, next year RA opportunity, and other things in life. I see this prof more or less as a friend and wish some privacy for the conversations...
I was very young at that time though(like the early 20s), so a bit naive and clueless, now I get to understand why he did this60 y.o. prof here. For decades. I have never allowed the door to be closed with students, male or female. Students no longer have the luxury of private in-person conversations. (Maybe on a zoom call, but I will record these just in case).
But, in public, outside of my office, say at the local coffee shop, sure I will sit and talk with you. But, I will go to lengths not to touch you.
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Female student here, one prof of my course did the same, I closed the door and he opened it. and to be honest, i don't like it because I want to discuss my grade, next year RA opportunity, and other things in life. I see this prof more or less as a friend and wish some privacy for the conversations...
I was very young at that time though(like the early 20s), so a bit naive and clueless, now I get to understand why he did this60 y.o. prof here. For decades. I have never allowed the door to be closed with students, male or female. Students no longer have the luxury of private in-person conversations. (Maybe on a zoom call, but I will record these just in case).
But, in public, outside of my office, say at the local coffee shop, sure I will sit and talk with you. But, I will go to lengths not to touch you.you must be at an American school. Euros really dont think that much