u/Ok-Mud-7622

Hello everyone. So, I'm a not-so-recently graduated male in industrial design, and I say male because my gender it's causing me some serious issues in pitching an important project of mine. Or maybe I should say that people are having issues with me being male. This project refers to an innovative article of design that crosses several fields in terms of application and user experience, but it mainly refers to the industry of maternity. The project doesn't entail anything weird or dangerous or "physical" about women. Long story short, almost five months ago I joined a group of youngsters in a meeting at the employment center of the city. It was my turn, I showed them my portfolio, and when I started talking about that project in the maternity field the immediate response was... grotesque. They were looking at me like I were some kind of alien, and two women were even laughing covering their mouth. Then, interrupting me, they said "Next!". So I got up and I left the office without talking to anyone or looking back. I called two ex professors of mine that heavily encouraged me to pitch that project, and I told them what just happened. They told me not to bother about the employment center, and they told me again (already did in the past) to go directly to those companies that deal with the industry of maternity. Fine, I trust them, they are professional designers, they worked both in our country (Italy) and abroad with really important companies. They were even able to do an "Atlantic crossing" and work with a company in the US, a feat not many are able to brag about. BUT. But to this day, after several months, I still haven't pitched that project. A few days ago they both called me and asked me why I still haven't done anything with that project. Mind you, they don't get anything out of that, they're just still being professors with me. So I told them. I told them that I really don't like the idea of being disrespected (and especially women do that), because I'm a male with a project to be pitched in the industry of maternity. And more than that, I don't like the idea of being, maybe, even dragged in something more dangerous like accusations of harassment or even worse because I'm a man. Because that's exactly what I was reading on the faces of those women during the meeting at the employment center. My ex professors kept on telling me to stop bothering about that, that that very project is really important for my career and totally marketable, and go full throttle with it. So I'm here to ask you for hints and suggestions. Both men and women. Does anyone among you ever worked as a man in the maternity industry? Did you have some kind of issues because of your gender? Do you know some man that did have/didn't have issues because they were male? Do you have some practical example, real work and real projects, that you can give me? Please note that I can't really say anything more specific about my project, both for obvious reasons about privacy and copyright of the patent, and because there's other people involved. Thank you in advance to anyone that will take their time to answer me, I wish you all a good day/evening.