I have been dedicated to nutrition for over fifteen years and, for eight years, I have had my own practice. Before working as a nutritionist, I worked as an event hostess, receptionist, salesperson, and countless jobs that allowed me to earn money to continue my education. I thought that when I worked as a nutritionist they would respect me more, I would have more authority and I would finally stop having to put up with this disrespect, but nothing could be further from the truth. In every field I have worked in, men have made me feel uncomfortable and small.
My physique was a way of promoting my work, because I am a woman and also a nutritionist. The perfect combo for diet culture and criticism. One day, in consultation with a patient, commenting on his habits and how to establish tools to improve his health, he let me know, and it’s literal: “Of course, you are like that because you live from your body . At other times in my life I wouldn’t have known what to say, but not here, I replied with a smile: “I live from my head and my work, I have never lived from my body.” »
I still had in-person consultations until 2020; Later I moved it to online mode only. In person, I stopped seeing patients because they made me extremely uncomfortable during the consultation, constantly trying to flirt and making completely inappropriate comments. In those moments, I didn’t dare to say anything, ultimately I remained silent all my life. As a woman, the learned helplessness is there. I have minimized very difficult situations, how could I not do so on this occasion and in a work context? So, in these circumstances, I chose to stop serving them with a trite excuse, but at least I felt safe in my own work, which, to make matters worse, I had created.
I have a virtual calendar from which my patients can make appointments. There’s no shortage of it, when I share it on Instagram and you see the spaces that remain free, an incredibly funny man appears and writes me a private message to tell me that a day at 1:00 p.m. is good for him to to have. a few beers. This attitude, this demonstration that your money can buy my business, is not an anecdote, but has been repeated many times. Now I share it on social media so he feels the shame and not me. I say it and I reiterate it here: it is an attitude of total lack of respect towards me and my work. Of course, when I denounce this behavior, they always tell me that it’s a joke, that we can’t say anything more… It’s true, but we should never have said things like that, and I won’t shut up.
Another very curious thing is that the nutrition diploma and the professional training cycle are studied mainly by women. I don’t know if there were more than ten children in my class, and I’m talking about the Complutense University of Madrid. Well, you only have to look at the media to see that the most famous nutritionists in this country are men. But where do they come from, if there are not so many of them? I’m sure if I ask you how many nutritionists you know, most of the names that come to mind are men, in a profession in which 90% of us are women. Of course, they talk about everything, no matter if they are not specialized in that area, or if this topic might be better covered by one of their colleagues. But they are not withdrawing, not even most of their allies. Forward with everything, yes, on Twitter and Instagram, pro activists.
Every time a company contacts me, whether by phone or email, they do so in the masculine gender. The truth is that I don’t know what makes you assume that in a company called “You Eat How You Live” and whose visible leader is a woman (me, Azahara Nieto), the management is headed by a man. My image is the one you see and no man appears anywhere. Why don’t you write in the feminine form to ask me directly? A woman is more likely to be behind a woman-led business.
Women don’t have higher positions and we don’t go further because, mainly, they never left us, or because we had to resign to take care of our children. So start to get the idea that if the visible face of the company is a woman, it’s because she’s the boss.
The truth is that I would like to know what it’s like to work without someone coming to explain to you subjects in which they are not specialized, stealing your ideas and telling them to you as if they were their own, always making you feel inadequate and like a piece of meat. I guess that’s what they call “a great work environment.”
If you too would like to share your story of everyday machismo, write to us at micromachismos@eldiario.es
