Women Drivers: Difference between revisions

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A ''supposedly'' [[Discredited Trope|long-dead comedy trope/stereotype]] which maintained that a woman behind the wheel of a car ''automatically'' became a danger to life and limb. Regardless of how intelligent and thoughtful a woman was, this trope insisted she would become [[The Ditz]] ~~-- or~~ worse, a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] ~~-- the~~ moment she slipped into the driver's seat: incapable of using turn signals, [[Had the Silly Thing In Reverse|checking her gear shift position]], or even looking where she's going. Even parking could become a major challenge.

A ''supposedly'' [[Discredited Trope|long-dead comedy trope/stereotype]] which maintained that a woman behind the wheel of a car ''automatically'' became a danger to life and limb. Regardless of how intelligent and thoughtful a woman was, this trope insisted she would become [[The Ditz]]—or worse, a [[Cloudcuckoolander]]—the moment she slipped into the driver's seat: incapable of using turn signals, [[Had the Silly Thing In Reverse|checking her gear shift position]], or even looking where she's going. Even parking could become a major challenge.

Any ~~problems -- or~~ worse, ~~accidents -- she~~ caused would be dismissed with a breezy carefreeness that husbands and traffic cops inevitably found grating, [[Women Drivers]] as often as not blaming the car for operator errors.

Any problems—or worse, accidents—she caused would be dismissed with a breezy carefreeness that husbands and traffic cops inevitably found grating, '''Women Drivers''' as often as not blaming the car for operator errors.

Being a male driver on a road anywhere within a half mile of a woman driver was grounds for elevated blood pressure and/or anxiety attacks.

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== Live Action TV ==

* This trope was such a staple of old sitcoms that on at least one occasion, [[Nickelodeon|Nick at Nite]] devoted an entire marathon to episodes featuring bad women drivers.

* [[Zig Zagged]] ''and'' [[Justified Trope|Justified]] with [[Britains Worst Driver|Britain's Worst Driver]] and its international spinoffs: played straight in that the women are truly terrible, subverted in that the ''male'' contestants are no better, subverted the ''other'' way that judges are often women drivers who are anything from just fine to ''bona fide'' [[Badass Driver~~|Badass Drivers~~]], and justified in that the shows are [[Exactly What They Say On the Tins]] and literal [[Truth in Television]].

* [[Zig Zagged]] ''and'' [[Justified Trope|Justified]] with [[Britains Worst Driver|Britain's Worst Driver]] and its international spinoffs: played straight in that the women are truly terrible, subverted in that the ''male'' contestants are no better, subverted the ''other'' way that judges are often women drivers who are anything from just fine to ''bona fide'' [[Badass Driver]]s, and justified in that the shows are [[Exactly What They Say On the Tins]] and literal [[Truth in Television]].

** [[Canada's Worst Driver|The Canadian version]] has gone through seven seasons now. So far the 'worsts' are three men and four women. Mind the season five "winner" was pretty much the [[Dumb Blonde]] brought to life, and the Season 6 runner-up was [[The Ditz|just as clueless.]]

* An old ''Candid Camera'' prank invokes this trope by placing a car in a garage door in such a way that the frame of the door is only an inch away from the bumper. Then they had an attractive woman call a mechanic (or some other professional) to help her out before "Her husband comes back and see what she did to the car".

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== Webcomics ==

* In one [[Gender Bender]] comic, a man begins to suspect something's... different about himself after discovering he can no longer ''parallel park''.

* ''[[Suicide for Hire]]'' gives us one from the mouth of Altair Anunnaki, pizza [[Snow Crash|deliverator]] and "definitive source of all things meretricious, vivacious, and delicious" ~~-- although~~ [http://suicideforhire.comicgenesis.com/d/20080120.html he adds the caveat "on a cell phone"].

* ''[[Suicide for Hire]]'' gives us one from the mouth of Altair Anunnaki, pizza [[Snow Crash|deliverator]] and "definitive source of all things meretricious, vivacious, and delicious"—although [http://suicideforhire.comicgenesis.com/d/20080120.html he adds the caveat "on a cell phone"].

* Averted in ''[[Misfile]]'' ~~-- while~~ female Ash struggles to drive the day after her transformation, it's because she isn't used to her new smaller feet and... other features.

* Averted in ''[[Misfile]]''—while female Ash struggles to drive the day after her transformation, it's because she isn't used to her new smaller feet and... other features.

* Jodie from ''[[Loserz]]'' [http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/3 managed to jump with her car over a McDonald's].

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** The Asian woman version happens, too. "How much signal I need to cut across eight lane? None? I turn now. Good luck everybody else!" [[Hilarity Ensues|Pandemonium ensues]].

* Referenced in ''Little Rascals''. A female teacher is driving her brother, and when she brings the car to a hard stop he comments simple, "just another woman driver."

* In an episode of ''[[The Jetsons]]'', Jane goes in for her driver's license much to the horror of the driving instructor. When the instructor first sees Jane, he turns a dial on the "Student Driver" sign on the car that makes it read "Woman Student Driver: Beware". After Jane is forced by a bank robber to be his escape vehicle, the instructor professes concern for "that poor creature" ~~-- not~~ Jane, but the robber she's driving.

* In an episode of ''[[The Jetsons]]'', Jane goes in for her driver's license much to the horror of the driving instructor. When the instructor first sees Jane, he turns a dial on the "Student Driver" sign on the car that makes it read "Woman Student Driver: Beware". After Jane is forced by a bank robber to be his escape vehicle, the instructor professes concern for "that poor creature"—not Jane, but the robber she's driving.

** Since it's supposed to be [[I Want My Jetpack|the 21st century]], one wonders why she didn't [[Society Marches On|learn to drive years before]]...

** In another episode, Judy takes driving lessons and is also rather bad. She only gets her learner's permit through [[Unfortunate Implications|what amounts to blackmail]].

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== Real Life ==

* An old joke: Why don't they let Helen Keller drive? Because she's a woman.

* A "joke" that still rears its head on message boards whenever a female race car driver has an embarrassing ~~incident -- like~~ [[Indy Car|Danica Patrick]] hitting her pit crew at one race, then hitting someone's else crew a few races later. Considering male drivers like [[Indy Car|Paul Tracy]] used to make a habit of such minor incidents the double standard is pretty tired. Interestingly when Katherine Legge had a ''huge'' crash, splitting her [[Indy Car|Champ Car]] in half and emerging unharmed, there weren't any "LOL Women Drivers" comments, just a lot of compliments about her toughness.

* A "joke" that still rears its head on message boards whenever a female race car driver has an embarrassing incident—like [[Indy Car|Danica Patrick]] hitting her pit crew at one race, then hitting someone's else crew a few races later. Considering male drivers like [[Indy Car|Paul Tracy]] used to make a habit of such minor incidents the double standard is pretty tired. Interestingly when Katherine Legge had a ''huge'' crash, splitting her [[Indy Car|Champ Car]] in half and emerging unharmed, there weren't any "LOL Women Drivers" comments, just a lot of compliments about her toughness.

** Tellingly, Katherine Legge is not known just as much for looking [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.a.cnn.net/si/features/2008_swimsuit/images/sections/other_danica-patrick_2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/2008_swimsuit/danica-patrick/&usg=__vELbOlKAq-6UL8Y8OiiFy-mf3XA=&h=300&w=415&sz=25&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=KHTwxqe7xDy6NM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDanica%2BPatrick%2Bswimsuit%2Bphotos%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1 extremely hot in a swimsuit] as she is for being a racing driver. As such...regarding Danica ''specifically''...HypeBacklash moving toward [[Hatedom]], especially from many who ''despise'' the sexualizing of their chosen <s>sport</s> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSzgwCql_mo drug-of-choice].

** Milka Duno is a standout example. At St. Petersburg, Florida, second race of the 2010 [[Indy Car]] season, she was five and a half seconds off the second slowest time...which was one and a half seconds off the ''fastest'' time. In a sport that has recently embraced several female drivers who possess quite a bit of talent, Duno is now causing the vast majority of fans to scream invectives at race control director Brian Barnhart, that he is allowing her on the track solely for Venezuelan CITGO sponsorship dollars.