Hi, I’m french and, while I would genuinely love for my country to be a safe space for trans people, I feel like I should warn you: things here are not as bad as in the US but the far right is progressing real fast and I’m quite afraid that they’ll pass in 2027. We (the leftists) are fighting the best we can but the media and our government are definitely inclined towards the far right already. Feel free to save my handle to get in touch if you move to France, I’ll be happy to help and share some info and advice. Best of luck

I was actually joining the chat to write that things are not that different in biology. I have a PhD and 7 years of postdocs behind me. Over the years I have :

• been denied a management position because “the team was only men, who wouldn’t listen to me” (spoiler alert, they put an incompetent guy in charge who screwed up massively and I ended up taking over, successfully).
• had a boss who systematically doubted my opinion (while he was not a specialist of the topic) but listened to the very same argument from a male colleague
• had male Masters students who could speak uninterrupted during meetings when I couldn’t
• got denied a tenure position for a guy with the same profile (literally the same topic and same labs) but much less experience than mine (like 5 years younger) This last one broke me, I ended up quitting academia

My pleasure! I’m sure it will come back and if you’re in Paris you should be fine even if it doesn’t. :) Enjoy France (in spite of what the world says, we’re not all jerks, I swear!).

Just in case it’s your first time in France : say “bonjour” when entering a store/ restaurant or when passing someone in an elevator or a staircase. Say “s’il vous plaît” and “merci” every time you ask for or get something respectively. This will save you a lot of nasty stares and displeased reactions. Actually that’s one of the reasons French people have a mean / rude reputation…we are VERY keen on politeness and when someone fails to respect these basic rules, we consider them rude and act rude in return (this analysis is not mine, it’s from a foreigner who lived in France for several years but, as a native french, I think it makes a lot of sense to explain the french mindset)

Lol, that must have been really fun ! Are you sure it wasn’t “putain de cOnnard” (I.e. f*cking *sshole) though? That sure does sound French !

The equivalent to tabernacle may be " Bordel" (brothel) but I’m not sure (I’m French and we never use tabernacle). Overall our swears tend to lean towards sexuality more than religion e.g. “putain de bordel de merde ça me casse les couilles” (i.e. shitty brothel’s whore, this breaks my balls).

Thanks for sharing your experience, I’ll keep that in mind!

Omg you’re making me freak out. I had to quit academia a year and a half ago (after 7 years of postdocs) and, after a bad experience in the private sector (techy start up bitch who was just plain insane), I’ve been struggling for 10 months to find a new path and a job…and I’m still nowhere near finding something I’m afraid.

Hi, I’m in my thirties and I’ve been through some rough patches towards the end of my PhD. I’m happy to listen and help however I can… I’m just too dumb to find how to DM. Please get in touch of you’d like to chat, I’m here.

I would love to see a massive boycott of MacDonald everywhere (at least in the US), I am surprised that this hasn’t come up somewhere online yet. That would be powerful signal IMO