THE YOUNG MAN WHO SAYS WOMEN HIS AGE TREAT HIM LIKE THE ENEMY

THERE are times when I feel like I’m on the enemy side in a war between the sexes that, as a man, I didn’t sign up for.

The women I ask out blatantly try to establish that I’m at least as successful as they are before they’ll consider a date. I’m judged by my earning potential long before my personality becomes a consideration. I have a mother, grandmothers, a sister and a niece: I loathe the idea of any one of them being disadvantaged because of her sex. And yet, my generation seems to be expected to take male inequality on the chin, as though we deserve to be punished for sins committed against women in the past.

It’s well documented that boys are trailing behind girls at school and university. But in my experience, the problem is following us out of the classroom and into the adult world, too.

Men and women don’t seem to know how to talk to each other any more. I’m terrified of inadvertently coming across as sexist by saying the wrong thing.

If I complain, I’m told to suck it up and ‘be a man’. But the fact is, being a man seems to be what’s going against me in the first place. When I do go on dates, women seem more interested in impressing me with their latest promo-tion than exploring what we have in common.

Recently I went to a speed-dating event and told a girl my ambition was to become an accountant. She said she wouldn't date an accountant: she was at the stage in her career where she would

want someone who ran their own accountancy firm. I felt snubbed. I would happily date a woman less qualified than me, but women seem to want a man to provide for them financially as well as having equal rights.

I feel like I’m not just on the enemy side, but on the losing one, too. After all, successful women simply aren’t interested in a bloke like me these days.