I encountered a stupid doctor who has written several articles and books, three of the former were thinly disguised misogyny masquerading as feminism.

The first suggested that while it was great that the US could have had its first female President, rather than the misogynistic, entitled grub of 2016 to 2020, it was important to retain gender roles. I have received friend requests, that have been declined, from New Zealanders who support the misogynistic grub who used to be US President, and New Zealand stands, to me, as an epitome of positivity. New Zealand's third female Prime Minister works, while her partner stays at home with their baby.

The second suggested that that women shouldn't have to act or behave like men in order to be noticed. Well, if a woman wants to pursue a career instead of motherhood, she should be allowed to. And, if a woman is subjected to advances by predatory men she has the right to say no, and if she is able to fend off a rapist with a well aimed knee to the gonads, well, more power to her!

The third suggested that women were becoming too much like men and thus unattractive to men. That sounds mostly like projection and anger at being turned down by women and is quite nasty.

We live in a more liberal age. An age where people should be free to express themselves and their gender without fear of abuse. I remember, when I was 21, and I had returned home from Japan and was having a catch-up with some people on the trip. One young guy, who has since come out as gay, suggested that we go to the Wickham. A woman in the group greeted it with disgust and made a homophobic statement. Yet, I know other women who feel comfortable around gay men because they have nothing to fear from them.

This ridiculous doctor also suggested that men and women should not be platonic friends, to which, I say, "What utter crap!" and the same as if you're in a same-sex relationship! There are some women who actually appreciate men, who are not gay men, with whom they can have a platonic friendship and there is no fear that the man is egocentric and thinks he might be in.

I remember my mother saying that my grandmother (my father's mother) used to laugh at her because she dressed my brother and I in blue. I wear a bit of blue, but I also wear a fair bit of black, green, beige, grey and a bit of pink and yellow. I tend to prefer gender neutral colours and consider myself non-binary, 70:30 male. I could not enter a relationship with a traditional woman and I say that not every woman is like that.

Now is the time to go against that ridiculous doctor and say that gender roles need to be reconsidered. We do not need to live with archaic gender roles.

And let's not forget, the right-wing carries on about the cancel culture and freedom, so that freedom should extend to people being able to express their gender they way they want to and not the way they're expected to.