About a month ago, I was chatting with my friend, a male, at an event. Out of nowhere, a man, about 27-years-old, sat down in front of us and decided that we would be his conversation for the night. He began by proclaiming that college was completely useless and unimportant - he spoke from experience as he had dropped out of college and joined the military without telling his father (he made sure to emphasize that last part) and opened up a business without a degree. He then kindly asked us about our lives. With amazing deductive reasoning skills, he immediately guessed that my friend was studying engineering and I pre-medicine.

After deducing my field of study, he confidently claimed, "Let me guess, you're going to be a pediatrician." I politely stated that no, I was not going to be a pediatrician. His next guess was Obstetrician-Gynecologist - I have no interest in either treating children or bringing them into the world, so again I declined.

He then conceded and directly asked me what field of medicine I wanted to pursue. I said surgery. Immediately his response was, "But don't you want to get married?" Marriage is not and will not be for the near future, a key aspect of my life - my career plans are not contingent upon me getting married - and I told him just that.

You would think that the conversation would end there, as this man is a stranger with no right over my life but no, there's more. This is the best part. He then proceeded to say, I guess for my own benefit, "But your biological clock is ticking."

Now, I have heard of this mysterious biological clock before. This magic timer for women that is a constant reminder that time is running out to complete our true purpose in life - to bear the children of our wonderful, breadwinning husbands. I must have forgotten about my true role as a woman because I then explained that I did not want to give birth to a child. But good thing he quickly corrected me by saying that I was only 19 and I was definitely going to change my mind in the future. I knew this information was credible because he explained that he was an expert in male and female psychology - makes sense, he attended a whole half a year of college.

This man was everything men should not be, and I do not think are anyway. I understand that all men are not conservative, arrogant, misogynists, but the issue is that some are. They believe that they have some opinion over women's bodies even if they have no relation to them. This man was neither my husband, my boyfriend, my brother, my father, nor even my friend - he was just some random man who decided to attack my ambition and my choices.

I have constantly been told that I am too young to know that I do not want biological children or that I don't necessarily want to get married. I disagree. I am 88 pounds - I am not putting my body through childbirth. Also, the Earth is dying - we do not need to add any more children to the current population. Besides, there are so many children out there already born without families; I would rather give them a shot at life rather than add to our overpopulated planet. But even if I am too young, even if I do change my mind, my "biological clock" is none of your business.

The point is not to attack women who do choose to stay home and care for their children - there are women out there whose priority is to get married to have their own children and that's perfectly acceptable. But then, there are women, like me, who want a career and my career choice, specifically, is not particularly conducive to children and I am ok with that. The main point is the choice. We are not bounded by the hands of an imaginary clock - we create our own life and its time for men to understand that.