AIBU to feel f****d off with a world built for men?

[DarjeelingDarllng]

I read** this article with increasing horror.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/feb/23/truth-world-built-for-men-car-crashes?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Many parts I recognise; the phone for example, I have a better camera but the phone is larger so harder to actually use.

I struggle to sit on most chairs easily as my feet don't touch the floor; this has caused some back issues.

I've known that most medical research has always been done on white men aged around 25.

The 'gender neutral' toilet thing is just obvious.

This quote, below, pissed me off the most, not least that there was once an AIBU where a pregnant woman was querying at what point did everyone stop driving as she was really struggling. 70% of people (roughly) said, just get on with it. The rest agreed it was challenging.

I very sadly know of a woman who was involved in a minor crash a week before her due date; the baby died.

The situation is even worse for pregnant women. Although a pregnant crash-test dummy was created back in 1996, testing with it is still not government-mandated either in the US or in the EU. In fact, even though car crashes are the No 1 cause of foetal death related to maternal trauma, we haven’t yet developed a seatbelt that works for pregnant women. Research from 2004 suggests that pregnant women should use the standard seatbelt; but 62% of third-trimester pregnant women don’t fit that design.

there are some products that do recognise the difference sbetween men and women

www.bicycle-touring-guide.com/difference-between-men-womens-road-bikes/
...
Handlebars
The handlebars usually differ on men and women’s road bikes. Shoulder width is a common bodily difference between the two genders, and this is directly reflected in the handlebars.

The handlebars on men’s bikes tend to be wider, and usually measure out to be between 42 and 44 centimeters wide. The handlebars on women’s bikes are between 38 and 40 centimeters to accommodate for narrower shoulders.

Additionally, the handlebar stem is usually longer on men’s bikes to accommodate for their longer arms. The stem is the part of the handlebars that is horizontal, and it is not adjustable. Since most women have shorter torsos, the handlebar stem is shorter so that they can reach it comfortably and safely.
...

Thing is, products like the Isla bike, designed specifically for a child, not just a scaled down version of a man’s bike, do incredibly well.

There must be a market for products designed for women. We are more than 50% of the population. Objectively speaking we should be the default.

The problem is that many things work for the majority of men, which is not the same thing as 'the majority'.

So you believe that toilets are the wrong height for the majority of women? Or that ovens are the wrong height?

I have never heard this before from any woman.

A drug that could eliminate period pain would make bazillions so it seems implausible that this would not have been pursued by the drug companies. They wanna make money after all

Well i think that's part of the problem Weetabix , it's so insidious, when everything is made for an average sized man, you don't necessarily question it, until an article like this makes you stop and think, and then you realise just how many things are awkward, but you've just been putting up with it, or even assuming that everyone finds the same things difficult, when in fact, average sized men aren't finding the toilets are too high etc etc.

Haven't read the whole thread but I totally agree about the difficulty removing bike tyres. My brother, exdp and the guys in Halfords all make it look so easy and they absolutely cannot see how I find it almost impossible.

tell the builder to put the microwave at the level you need it at

I did. He disregarded my instructions because he thought he knew better. Going bespoke? You'd think eleven fucking thousand pounds worth of kitchen would be bespoke enough to get you a microwave that isn't a fucking health hazard, wouldn't you?

Well then surely you will tell them to change it? If you've told them how you want something and they don't comply then you tell them to change it.

Folding my scooter. Tiny lever that DH can press with one hand, takes me two hands and full strength to fold it.

Well yes but at that point we'd already been out of the house for six weeks and weren't really up for moving out for another two weeks so he could refit the entire top half of the kitchen.

My bike is a Liv. They're a sister brand to Giant, but rather than scaliang down men's bikes, they design from scratch around female physiology. Hands down, it's the best bike I've ever had. Incredibly comfortable from the word go.

I highly recommend that any woman looking for a new bike looks them up. They're no more expensive than any other decent bike (mine is an entry-level hybrid and was about £200 I think) but they are really good.

I struggle at the playground
Most other parents can reach the top of the climbing frame to help DC, I can't.
A nice man had to put DS on the zipline for me because I couldn't hold it in one hand and pick DS up with the other.

Well yes but at that point we'd already been out of the house for six weeks and weren't really up for moving out for another two weeks so he could refit the entire top half of the kitchen.

2 weeks to rebuild one cooker housing? Our entire kitchen was built and fitted, entirely bespoke not flat pack, by one man in 4 days.

Given that you live with a kitchen for a long time I still would have gone with a 2 week delay and had the kitchen that I wanted, but that's your choice.

We had a shitter builder than you, obviously.

Just to add to my bikes post - I'm 5'10 so clearly not short! In fact, my previous bike was a men's frame because I struggled to get a women's frame tall enough at the time. It threw me forward in the saddle and was all kinds of uncomfortable - I even added a special saddle with a hole cut in it for pressure relief but I still ended up sore. It just wasn't designed for me (and didn't claim to be to be fair, but I had a similar though not identical issue with the women's bike I had before that too).

I love my Liv 💕

Since when was designing something that fitted what the average woman needs, "bespoke"? Oh yeah, since time immemorial.

The article was enraging but the comments have left me wanting to woman the barricades.

Why the fuck can women not ever - EVER - point out sexism without their point of view being challenged? Ever. EVER.

Interesting stuff.

We don't have any "averages" in our house. I am 5ft 2, DH is 6ft 7, DS is already 6ft 4 age 17. We all have problems with most things. Everything in our house is designed for me to use, (some things I have to stretch for) but that means most stuff is uncomfortable for the others. Although Dh and DS are both guilty of putting things at their eye level (on top of bathroom cabinet instead of in it) and I can't climb on anything to reach as I'm disabled.

Toilets are too low for them, too high for me. They can't buy off the peg clothes easily and when they can they have to pay a premium. I have to shorten most things I buy. I'm uncomfortable in the car because I can't reach the pedals properly, they are uncomfortable in the car because the seats don't go back far enough for their long legs (38" in dh's case), seats anywhere are uncomfortable for them. All the appliances in the kitchen are for my height which means they have to bend double.

I'm amazed at anyone who can get wheel nuts off a car that have been tightened by a device in a garage, none of us can. We don't have any trouble buying gloves in small or extra large, and they spend as much time in a supermarket helping people reach things as I do asking for help. I have never had trouble lifting bags of cement or gravel, doing my own diy or being able to tighten a screw effectively. I can get my hands in small spaces that they can't to do small things.

All of these things probably mean that I don't notice a male/female inequality as much because we all have problems. Someone will always suffer, we can't make items in enough sizes to suit everyone. Even if we made stuff for an average 5ft 6 female I still would have problems with many things.

but nokidshere your DH is considerably over average height for a man (5 ft 10), while you're just two inches off average height for a woman (5ft4). So by rights you should be struggling a lot less than him on average, if stuff were designed for the average human not the average (European) male. It's worth adding that there's a racial dimension to this too, as for instance south / east Asian males are on average shorter than European males too.

My whole point about kitchen ovens is that there is this huge assumption that designing a tower unit to suit the average man works....

I cannot believe it would be that much more costly to design one where you can choose the height of the unit!!!

The arguing back drives me insane - "I am very short the office chairs are too big" - "you are wrong they are designed to fit all heights" I read the info on them only suitable down to 5'2" and no doubt that will be someone 5'2" with at least average leg length. Why not accept that that the shorter and taller end will most likely need a different chair?

but nokidshere your DH is considerably over average height for a man (5 ft 10), while you're just two inches off average height for a woman (5ft4). So by rights you should be struggling a lot less than him on average, if stuff were designed for the average human not the average (European) male. It's worth adding that there's a racial dimension to this too, as for instance south / east Asian males are on average shorter than European males too.

In general I do struggle more than him which is why my new kitchen is designed for me. But my point was that if everything was designed for the average human (5ft 6?) we would both still struggle, hence my not noticing this stuff as much because neither of us are average and both of us have always struggled.

I am 5’3”. I have to stand on a stool to reach the top shelf of my wall cupboards (so 50%) and the top shelf of my fridge. And I’ve taken to using my stool when I’m cooking something in my mahoosive pot that requires a lot of stirring or doing a stir fry in my wok otherwise I’m just too low down.

So basically my average kitchen does not really work for a slightly smaller than average woman.

Obviously there is the argument that men use the kitchen too. But when everything else that men and women use is designed for men, you’d think they’d let us have the bloody kitchen.

And I bet a man designed Le Crueset. What a bloody con that is.

But five foot two is pretty average for a woman! It's not like you're a vast outlier height-wise.

This is a eye opener to me TBH as a taller and stronger than average woman (5'9"). I have large hands too, which helps immensely with grip (my fingers are about 1" longer than my husbands).

Being closeish to the height for an average Caucasian human has unobvious advantages.

It is crap being short. But i guess it is that im taller than half of all women but shorter than pretty much all men. So only 25th percentile overall.
Imo they need to change the 50?kg bags not because women cant lift them but because of the damage it does even to men lifting so much. It is unlikely these men will be working these jobs till 70+.
Maybe a bit of adjustable worktop.

In my former place of work in some of the toilet cubicles I really struggled to reach the loo roll as it was located so far away from the loo

My life would be much easier if I could have a low desk do I didn't need to use a footstool but that is just so outside the norm I've never even enquired! Most people don't have their workstations set up properly and don't realise that their screen should be lower than eye level.