I recently turned 20(f), and all my life I've felt that I'm less comfortable talking to guys I don't know that well. But if it's a woman, I'll be comfortable quite fast and will be able to engage in discussion with them. I have guy friends (admittedly fewer than people who have friends of different genders) that I am super comfortable with. It just takes me longer to open up to guys.
I have good relations with my younger brother, and I talk quite freely with him. I would say I have good relations with my dad as well, however he has a habit of not stopping when he's talking about some idea/suggestion. I have grown better at interjecting with my own points though instead of just listening to him.
I don't think I crave male validation. I was stared at by guys(creepily) when I was younger, and sometimes now as well (on the road). I guess I trust guys lesser in general, which is the cause. And maybe I'm more afraid of being judged.
The thing is, I'm studying computer science right now, and I want to make a career out of it. And currently, it is a male dominated field. This faces a bit of a challenge for me, since if there's a lot of guys and no girls, I avoid presenting my ideas or standing up for myself. This happened to me last year in a previous hackathon, where I did not know any of the guys that well, and they took all the technical work for themselves, and I was assigned the task of making the presentation. Whereas, when I have participated in teams with at least one other girl or a group of girls, I'm able to express myself better and fruitfully contribute. The problem is not with talking to male teachers about ideas either, because if I'm alone, or with just one more person(could be a guy/girl) I am able to express myself well.
I don't want this to be the case, since I know I might have to work in teams where I'm the only girl, and I need to be able to talk and put forward my ideas in such a group. Any suggestions that could help with this?