My mom told me this growing up too, and in a lot of ways it protected me but it also created in me an inherent suspicion / distrust of any man I meet and this hasn’t always been true or useful. I’ve sabotaged good relationships with good men because I could just not trust them to actually care about me and not hurt me on purpose.

I empathize with how you feel - the situation you’re talking about is one I’ve experienced myself and it sucks. That man is garbage and there are plenty of men with toxic and misogynist perspectives. But my advice is to not let this fear of being hurt close you off to anything good - because there is good out there, even if it’s hard to find. I’ve spent a lot of lonely time like that. In my opinion, it’s better to stop looking at all than to continue dating in fear that you’ll be hurt. Noticing red flags and narrowing the pool is always a good idea, but making the blanket assumption will probably hurt you in the long run (as it has me).

I hope you know that this man being an asshole doesn’t say anything about you - that’s his problem, he’s the bad guy here. And I hope that you feel better soon and have better luck as well, no matter what you choose!