There is a ridiculous doctor (male) who doesn't believe that men and women should be platonic friends, and fortunately, most people who commented on an article for which he was interviewed, agreed that he is an idiot. This doctor also has the ridiculous belief that women are becoming more like men and that you shouldn't share things in relationships with a person of the opposite sex who is not your partner.
Okay, this doctor's advice is about as useful to me as supplying a Nissan Micra to someone who wants to tow a 40 foot caravan, but still.
The ONLY time when I say you can have it that people should mix with only their own sex is if it's a school reunion for people who went to a single-sex school.
Let's not forget that there are some men, and I'm one such one, who don't have much in common with other men. I mean, I'm not interested in football or cricket, and if someone gave me a 4WD, I would be more interested in where it's made than how I could aggrandize it. So, if someone gave me a Toyota RAV4, I would be, "Okay, is it made in Japan?" and then I'd be talking about that.
I went to my brother's brother-in-law's house for part of the day on Christmas Day, but I talked to my brother's sister-in-law and her sister and my brother's mother-in-law more than anyone else. I really only said a few words to my brother's brother-in-law about his Nissan Silvia car and his Nissan Patrol, and whether he likes KYB Shock Absorbers and NGK Spark Plugs. I sort of had to keep away from my mother as she'd have been asking me why.
I remember, when I was 12, I had to go to a 50th Birthday Party for my father's work colleague's husband. She had a son 16 months older than me, and he and I didn't relate. He got on with my brother, even though there was a four and a half year age gap, as he'd come down to my brother's level in a way that I couldn't. So, I remember taking a safe harbour on a stormy sea with a woman whose daughter was a high school teacher and I could talk to her as though we were the same age (I talked up to her, she didn't talk down to me). A man came along and made her angry, though. If I could have had that event again, it would have been like this: Colleague's husband comes to collect us, "Where's Peter?" "He'll be along." I climb into a car with Professor Tony Attwood. "Okay, follow that car." My parents and my bother arrive. "Where's Peter?" "He'll be along soon." Professor Tony Attwood and I pull up out the front. We walk into the garage. Father's Colleague: Who's that? Father: That's Professor Tony Attwood. Peter's support worker. FC: Okay.
Dinner time comes. Professor Tony Attwood sees the lady. "Excuse me, Ma'am, is it okay if the boy in the blue shirt and jeans and I join you for dinner, please?"
Woman: Yes. Is he your son?
TA: No, he's my client.
Woman: How so?
TA: He is autistic. He needs a safe harbour.
Woman: All right.
We talk and eat.
Later, Professor Tony Attwood gives me a lift home.
I am glad that you agree that this ridiculous doctor is just that.