Ah, how fondly I remember those innocent days when "Women suck at parking" was No. 1 on the "Men are sexist pigs who thoughtlessly spread horrible stereotypes about women" hit parade. But here comes the science:
Of the 170,000 women who failed their driving test in 2010 for mistakes in reversing or failing to use their mirrors, 55,000 failed on parking.
And if those figures - released by the Driving Standards Agency - are not enough to ensure a rare victory for men in the battle of the sexes, then they have the support of science as well.
[. . .]
Researchers at the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany asked 65 volunteers to park a £23,000 Audi - and found that women took up to 20 seconds longer than men.
Some women blame the problem on the fact their breasts make it more difficult to turn around while parking.
Yes, that's right, blame it on the breasts. Those damn things, not good for nothin'. The story notes that figures also back up another sterrotype -- young men so loaded with testosterone that they can't help but speed. I confess, though, to driving outside of both stereotypes. I never did drive fast, and I'm a horrible parallel parker. Guess that's my inner woman coming through, huh?
Comments
As long as you don't like to cuddle, you can feel confident in your masculinity.
I, too, tend to drive slowly. It saves gas. It also causes lead-footed hot-heads to go crazy. They tailgate and occasionally honk and make colorful hand gestures. I make it a policy to gently slow down for tailgaters, all the way to a full stop if they're too stupid to get the message. I confess I enjoy seeing the angry red faces and the eventual strokes I'm probably causing. But if cops won't ticket tailgaters, I'll just have to do my part.