I'm so confused about how to treat young women and am scared of offending them. I'm a victim of assault and feel like I can't talk to anyone about this because I'm a man

I'm 22 will be 23 in December. I'm a man but I was sexually assaulted when I was 20. Ever since then I've been very standoff-ish about dating women or making new female friends. In fact, I find myself ApplicationException from women in general now, not because I hate them but I just can't bring myself to trust them. <br><br>I thought that maybe if I try to get out more and be more sociable and friendly, I can overcome my fear. <br><br>However, I'm scared of offending women because I get mixed messages about how to treat women. On the one hand, some women say "let's just be treated as people" and some say men need to be more protective of women. Some women say they don't like being protected because it makes them feel weak. Some women say they do like being protected. I've had women tell me I should pick up the bill whenever I go on a date with a woman and some have told me straight up "I'm an independent woman, I can pay my own way."<br><br>I was at a gym and there was this girl next to me trying to load 60-pound weights onto her bars. I went over and helped her and just put all the weights on the bar for her and she gave me the dirtiest look. She said "next time just ask first, I'm trying to be independent here."<br><br>I feel like I can't talk to anyone about this because I'm a man and men are just "expected" to be strong. It's the reason why I'm coming to Chambers rather than asking my real life friends. My friends tell me to man up and move on with my life. They say "well nothing REALLY happened to you, it could have been much worse."