MY father worked for the war effort when I was child and was away from home most of the time, so I was brought up by a woman, my mother, who taught me the basic rules of good manners.

If I am sitting on a tram, bus or train that is full and a woman gets on board, I am to offer her my seat.

If I see a woman struggling with any heavy objects, I am to offer to see if I can help.

If I approach a door and a woman or women are behind me, I am to open the door and hold it open for them to pass through.

Imagine how I felt when I held a door open the other day in the Dolphin Centre, before they put in the AOTO doors, for a woman in her thirties to pass through when she stared me straight in the face and told me to: ‘**** off’.

I was brought up by a woman. I am not a benevolent sexist, just observing what I was taught by my mother. Does this now mean that this woman’s mother and all the women before her were also wrong?

DOUGLAS MILLS, Fraser Road, Poole