Sheree Strange
Jul 21, 2017 · 2 min read

This is really interesting, and something I’d never actually considered. My husband and I don’t own a car (we’re inner-city millennials who are smack-bang in the middle of the “Environmentally Conscious” and “Broke” venn diagram). We’ve had a couple of occasions to rent one, however, and on those occasions he has been the one to take the wheel. Growing up, on every family road-trip or local sojourn I can remember, my father drove (or, in the case of long road trips, drove first and for the longest), while my mother navigated from the passenger seat. I’d never questioned this or thought of it as odd… until your article ;)

I’d imagine that this is the monkey-see-monkey-do cultural lag that your sociologist mentioned — my parents saw their parents drive that way, I saw mine drive that way, so the cycle continues. Still, I can’t help wondering what other factor(s) (other than the drivers’ inherent “maleness” and the layers of social conditioning that come with it) are at play. Do we see a similar pattern play out in other types of relationships (i.e., other than male-female hetero couples), a correlation between driving and “desire for control” perhaps? Perhaps certain Myers-Briggs types are more inclined to drive? In my own tiny little anecdotal example here, both my mother and I are more nervous, highly-strung types, while both my husband and my father are relaxed, easy-come-easy-go types — does it make sense that (regardless of gender norms) the more calm one takes the wheel? Or, like a lot of other “man jobs” and “woman jobs”, is it all just complete bullshit?

Thanks for giving me something to mull over with my coffee (and making me kind of miss my psych degree ;)).

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    Sheree Strange

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    Just another millennial who quit a corporate job to chase the dream | Blogging about literature at www.keepingupwiththepenguins.com