I was very depressed at work recently when another man made a comment about how long I’d been taking to finish some work which I’d been struggling with. I ended up at home crying and unable to finish the work because of anxiety.

I decided to email all my colleagues telling them what a state I was in. It was an odd thing to do but you know what, all 14 of those men (including the guy who made the unthinking remark) sent me an encouraging email in response telling me about their own struggles with depression or that of their wives. It was lovely and when I headed up at work, both my male bosses came and had a chat with me which made me feel so much better. They all took me out to the pub today and even the guy on the team who didn’t seem to like me that much was really kind and we were all laughing and joking.

Anyway, I’ve certainly not experienced the dog eat dog male culture that you describe, not since school anyway. That was everything you describe and more but then school is kind of awful. I’m sorry if you have.