Women drivers

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Mike Buchanan

Well, this was a bit different. A few weeks ago I was interviewed on BBC Radio Tees about the issue of women’s sports on television, and related matters. The file’s on our YouTube channel. The station called me at about 9am yesterday, inviting me to contribute to a piece on women drivers’ nervousness about driving whilst on holiday overseas, which was to be broadcast half an hour later. I was informed I’d be debating the matter with Liz Turner, a motoring correspondent. Please excuse my occasional spluttering – I’ve never been a ‘morning person’.

The file is on our YouTube channel, please leave any comments you may have there, rather than here. Thank you.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKhX1c3ow6BrzdzP3ydpeZQ/videos

About Mike Buchanan

I'm a men's human rights advocate, writer, and publisher. My primary focus is leading the political party I launched in 2013, Justice for Men & Boys (and the women who love them). I still work actively on two campaigns I launched in early 2012, Campaign for Merit in Business and the Anti-Feminism League. In 2014 I launched The Alternative Sexism Project, aiming to raise public understanding that the sexism faced by men and boys has far more grievous consequences than the sexism faced by women and girls.
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  • Well I know it was light hearted but I noted that you both actually agreed that it was anxiety or lack of confidence at the root. Interesting that the “solutions” included imprisoning men in their seats with a gag! Perhaps a feminist dream. Overall as you led off , there isn’t a problem to be solved if people are just making choices. And as usual your “opposition” full of ideas of how men “caused ” this non existent problem and strange ideas of how to improve women’s confidence. Also she talked about respect when having spent minutes being dismissive of men and insulting her partner! You were respectful in suggesting adults could make their own choices.

  • vadark

    The end, just after the music, was the clincher as the interviewee’s co-host remarked that the interviewee’s closing question to the public was sexist ! hahaha

    Anyway, well tackled, Mike, and it’s great to hear you are being invited to these debates. It’s a great way to get publicity.

    • Thanks Vadark. It was a bit early in the morning for me – not all the cylinders are firing at 9:30 – so my stammering was worse than usual, especially when something particularly stupid was being said. Never mind, I do like Mike Parr as an interviewer, and I ploughed on regardless as I always do. One of the commenters here picked up on something I hadn’t, that the woman talked about how people can be sexist without realising it, then she spoke of the need for a ‘man seat’ in which male passengers were restrained, and they’d also have their mouths gagged at the same time. Hmm, what if I’d referred to the need for a ‘women seat’ in the same manner?

      • vadark

        I reckon, Mike, it would have been good to pick her up on her sexism and made that suggestion at the time. Easy for me to say! I still think you did a great job and I hope you get more of these radio interviews. I wouldn’t worry about the stammering. It’s not how you say something; it’s what you say that’s important.

  • women complain how condescending men are and then suggest that men should be strapped in a seat and gagged. How condescending is that!? Female drivers may have fewer accident because they drive at snail’s pace and take for ever to make a move.Like Mike said,they cause others to have accidents. And women do suffer from anxiety more than men and not just behind the wheel but in other situations as well. Here is an example of that:
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-anxious-sex/

    • Many thanks – I was about to start looking for studies on gender differences in proneness to anxiety!

      • Mike you will find many. Women are be the majority users of mental health services and particularly medication and therapy for stress , anxiety and mild depression. Indeed feminists are happy to use such information as “proof” that patriarchy causes women to be depressed by their oppression! Of course women are also in the majority in chronic and acute depression. Though in the more severe illness it is probably the case that men suffer without seeking help.

  • Fascinating example in today’s DM. As usual reported as if women are stressed at home because of house work. But the actual research found that the physical signs of stress(hormones) followed the same pattern for both sexes, there was no gender effect. “This is across gender, across education level, across occupation level, so, a pretty strong finding.” So what that actually means that the higher expression of stress by women after work isn’t actually reflected in the physical measures of stress. Rather than wandering off in the usual guff about “juggling” the real question is why are women likely to report more stress when this is at odds with the expected physical manifestation? And why do men report less stress when their appears no gender difference in the patterns measured? Probably it is socially expected for women to express they “stressed” when this is an expression of a social convention. Thus men are expected to say they are relaxed at home and women are expected to express stress their body’s betray the truth in this small sample, that both betray more stress at home than in work. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2637548/Were-stressed-home-work-Juggling-household-chores-means-day-office-easier-comparison.html

  • Passengers, be they men or women, should not distract a driver while the vehicle is in motion.

    Unless somebody does a research study (which seems to be the required justification for every opinion today), we will never know whether it is men or women who tend more towards distracting behaviour whilst being a passenger in a car. For the time being we can all have our own views on this.

    Let me tell you the worst incident of distracting behaviour I have experienced while driving a car. Some years ago I gave a lift to a man and a woman to a conference we were attending. About half a mile into the journey I made a turn at some traffic lights. Immediately the woman exploded: “Where are you going?” she said with great force and suddenness. I had to stop the car at the roadside to sort out with her the issue she had raised. We were in an area she did not know very well and I had not taken a wrong turn. There was no good reason for her sudden interjection.

    The overwhelming majority on women I’ve carried in my car have been perfect passengers.

    The Jasper Carrott joke you mention at 4:16 is ace.