A well-known Christchurch property developer has taken to social media to defend himself amidst backlash over his "sexist" comments and "traditional family" views.
Matthew Horncastle, co-director of Williams Corporation, has come under fire for his recent comments saying women should use their "youth and beauty to get the best possible man".
In a now-deleted post, Horncastle was responding to a question on his Instagram story on Tuesday about his take on relationships.
"First I believe in personal freedom. You do you," Horncastle wrote.
"My core beliefs would be I believe traditional gender roles work.
"A woman should use her youth and beauty to get the best possible man. What I have read about having babies (super limited) is that it is more healthy for the mother and baby to do it sooner instead of later. A man should develop himself first, strength, successes, financial security. Then choose the best possible woman.
"Family and having children is extremely important and should be seriously thought about.
"Plus you should have a meeting about the relationship, expectations etc. Probably regularly."
In a later post, Horncastle said he removed the Instagram story because he "can't be bothered arguing with/being attacked by the left".
However, he then turned his attention to the backlash on Reddit, where Horncastle highlighted "our top employee is a woman". He later admitted the top employee he was referring to was also his mum.
The comments have left a sour taste in many people's mouths, as many took to social media to explain why insinuating youth and beauty are a woman's best qualities is a harmful misogynistic view.
Christchurch social media creator and influencer Danni Duncan told Newshub she was outraged after she was sent Horncastle's Instagram story by some of her own social media followers.
"[It] comes across very sexist and like he's still living in the 1950s," Duncan said. "It very much upholds patriarchal views, which is oppressive. Women have done so much in the last 10 to 20 years to dismantle this."
She said Horncastle, who has almost 10,000 followers, has young men who may look up to him, making his comments harmful.
"He says 'it's my own belief' but then he is putting it out on social media and he is influencing other people to think the same as him," she said.
"I think it is really important to call out things like this because it shows other people what we do not stand for… It makes a really clear stance that this is not okay."
Horncastle told Newshub he has "no comments on this topic".
