Fear of sexism.

Hey! Im a male RBT at an amazing clinic, and I’ve been doing it for a little over a year. I absolutely love this field and I’m working towards my BCBA. When I am done with school and pass the exam and get practice, I intend to move states.

My big fear is sexism and people assuming I’m a creep because I’m a man. I’ve heard stories of men getting labeled creeps, and accused of being straight up pedophiles because they want to be in this field. I let clients sit in my lap, carry them, and give them squeezes and hugs for reinforcement.

My current clinic is awesome, and I don’t have that fear, I’ve learned a lot of stuff from them and they do the same things I do, and I’ve found a lot of success with this form of reinforcement and I will more than likely do the same things if it’s what a client finds reinforcing.

My question is guess is, is sexism towards men as bad as I’m imagining it in this field or am I just anxious and overthinking everything? The fear I have is making me want to just stay where I’m at but I don’t really wanna be in my state forever.

TLDR: is sexism towards men bad in this field overall or will I be ok wherever I go?