The term "non binary" grinds my gears. It is used by mostly young people to suggest that there is something unique and special about them, when in reality it's only slightly gender bending fashion, and a normal amount of rejection of gender expectations.

And it's not new.

Let me tell you about some of the women in my family.

My aunt, in the late 1950's, was working for a Canadian media company but realized she would never be promoted over any man, so she quit, went back to high school, then university, to become a teacher.

She battled people who told her she should just get married and have kids. She did none of the expected female things of her era. Nobody called her "brave" or "stunning". She endured years of abuse and criticism for forging her own path.

In the 1950's, My mother - fed up with the physical abuse from my father, did something few women were brave enough to do, she left him. She spent a night in jail because that's what they did to women who dared to report abuse.

Afterwards, she took my toddler sister, and infant me on a 3 day bus trip back home. She had no money and no food, but she did it to protect us from his violent temper. I was the only kid in my school with divorced parents because everyone followed gender expectations then.

In the 1970's, my sister opted to go to a technical college, rather than the obligatory secretary or nursing schools, & entered a male dominated field. It was an unpleasant experience for her as the men resisted her presence & made her life hell for daring to defy gender norms.

Like so many male dominated workplaces, one of the issues she faced was improper washroom facilities. It would be a decade more before women were properly accommodated. While her classmates were all getting hope chests, she was learning a skill.

Women in my family had to fight to make a living wage. It was legal to advertise for men only in workplaces, even when the job didn't require special strength. When women complained they were told men had to support their families, like women didn't also have the same concerns.

So excuse me if I think your civil rights don't include forcing people to acknowledge your ridiculous claims of being "non binary". Most people are. Dressing in female clothes doesn't turn you into a woman or make you "oppressed", any more than tattoos or blue hair does.

Gender ideology doesn't break gender stereotypes, it enforces them.

Performing stereotypes of women while insisting you are one is as offensive as other cultural appropriations. You look ridiculous when you claim this is progressive behaviour. It's misogynistic as hell.

My point is, dressing like this guy, claiming you are a woman, and stealing from actual women, who have only just recently been included in professional and political life, doesn't make you brave.

It makes you a coward.

A man who steals from a vulnerable population, and acts like this is some sort of brave achievement, while gaslighting real women - especially those who still remember the struggles of earlier generations, is a sexist pig.

This is as misogynistic an act as ever there was.