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.

I wish seats on aircraft were designed for men.

I recall a case many years ago where a woman was killed by her car’s airbag. She was quite short, and had to sit very close to the steering wheel in order to reach the pedals. There was a 20mph collision, which would normally cause minimal if any injuries (a bit of bruising from the seat belt usually).
She was so close to the dashboard that when the airbag explosively deployed, it caused major blunt force trauma to her heart and she died. I read about it in the medical journals and went to my car dealer to ask to get my airbag removed, as I’m short too. They refused, saying it was illegal to remove one.
Presumably the design was only tested on dummies sitting well back from the wheel, like long legged men.

All those commenting re the world build for the neuro typical; I completely agree. I work with children who have autism.

Also @Ghanagirl, yes and thank you for adding this, I have seen a number of your posts.

Work tops - yes. I watched a come dine with me once where a female contestant always chopped food on a board on the floor.

I visited Japan once and the first thing I noticed was that I didn't feel out of place height wise (5'3"). It was very refreshing.

The car before our current one had a deep seat which was too long for my thigh bone and so I got sores behind my knee if I drove from any length of time.

Air plane seats are horrendous. You only need a small pull down step for feet. One airline used to have these.

Architecture has always been very dominated by men; there have been a lot of moves to change this but if I'm honest (knowing the profession well due to family) it's not very family friendly as so much is done at evening events etc. But, definitely moves to change this.

The sickness story upthread is

That's appalling babdoc.

Wouldn't it actually be better to complain that the world is NOT designed to allow for ALL needs? People in wheelchairs for example? People with poor eyesight or poor hearing? People with sensory needs? Those who need things very quiet or who make a lot of noise?
I get that you can't please everyone but you can take the needs of others into consideration. For example you can make women's toilet cubicles wider so it's possible to stand in it and get the door opened without being wedged against the toilet because of the bin! You can design restaurants so that there are quieter areas. You can design buildings with better access for wheelchairs (and not just businesses but homes too). It's just about actually thinking about others and asking for opinions, and about giving opinions without being negative or accusatory.

** I think there are some really good points here but not all.

For example

She *pointed out that there were no cupboards for things like the ironing board, broom, mop and bucket, hoover etc. No room to store any towels or bedding.

He looked amazed. They could have just asked a woman.*

So only women can think about cleaning products and ironing?

This is something I've become even more aware of while pregnant. You get a cold and you can take sweet FA for it, what could be cured in 2/3 days with some Sudafed takes 3 weeks to get over because you can't take any of the usual medicines.

Why don't you contact the drug companies and say I am willing to test drugs while I am pregnant?

So only women can think about cleaning products and ironing?

Obviously not. But it does happen. Architecture in some realms eg one off houses, is notorious for driving for the aesthetics while ignoring actual practical living. Believe me, I know from experience!

For a wide range of things; designers and architects have specific guidelines and criteria to follow when designing products and buildings. Products aren't passed as safe or accessible unless they comply.

If these guidelines, based on research, haven't fully included and tested anyone who isn't an average western male, they're only to suit and protect those men.

Much of this is based in law and research.

Obviously Frair.

50% of the population are female first, and then may have other difficulties on top.

But we have had what 40-50y of standard sanitary bin and you go to a new cinema and you know it’s be jammed in between wall and seat. It’s not like they don’t know of problems it’s the people who make decisions don’t care.

The thing is, if you brought women on board they’d probably think of the other things too. Ie adaptations for autism and elderly people etc because women are most likely to be caring for them. So they would say I need it to be like this and my son needs this and my mum needs this etc etc.

Not quite so simple jess, much of this is through life experiences too.

Plenty of men do know and understand or have autistic children themselves. Plenty of women can't 'get' autism (I've met them.)

'Walk a mile in my shoes' (mostly designed by men for the male gaze) etc is a lot of this, but everything is still structured around a patriarchal machine.

The actual full anatomy of the clitoris was only recently worked out ffs.

My biggest annoyance is our local recycling centre which has obviously been designed for 6ft men.

The holes for bottles and cans in the collecting bins are way above my head (at 5ft 2in). The skips into which you throw your waste are in sunken bays but you have to reach over a 3ft wall and across an 18 inch gap to put anything in. Most stuff ended up falling down the gap because short people couldn't reach the skip. The unsympathetic attitude of the 6 footers of the staff as they stand there watching you struggle is probably the worst bit.

Thing is if you made loo cubicles wider, there would be fewer of them. God knows the queues in some places are bad enough as it is.

I’m 5ft 2in and have never ever thought that the difficulty I have is because the world is malecentric, I’ve assumed it’s because i’m short. I frequently have to ask a man to hand me something from the top shelf in a supermarket.

This is a real eye opener and i’m pissed off now!

I also hate toilets. They're designed so the toilet is in the middle of the cubicle and there isn't enough room for a sanitary disposal unit to the side. So the unit touches the toilet seat and when it gets too full, there's other women's blood right next to you...

A new cinema opened in my town about a year ago. The women’s toilets are off centre so there is space for the bin. I was so shocked I took a picture, I can’t find it now.

When you realise that the world is set up with men as the default you realise how much everyday misogyny there is.

This is half the population struggling here. Not a few people. Half.

@marcopront

So only women can think about cleaning products and ironing?

As I wrote that, I wondered why none of the male's involved in the design thought of storage, surely they must need it too. But apparently not. In an ideal world they would think of these things, but I bet those that do are in the minority. I'm not being sexist, just honest.

The thing is, isn't it impossible to design stuff to suit everyone? Without it being much more expensive that is. "Standard" is cost effective.

I can't change my car tyres. I know how to, I just can't undo the bolts. I don't particularly want them looser though! There are few other things I can't do but these are based on my personal strength rather than being female.

Toilet cubicles are bloody stupid though - that is literally just a case of shifting the layout slightly.

I suppose the reality is that, historically, women haven't been involved in this kind of design work. Hopefully things will change.

5ft 1" woman who knows my driving position is dangerous but has not choice - that article was eye opening - can't wait to read the book

The one advantage of using hand controls, I don't need to sit so close to the steering wheel.

You can get safety belt adaptors and pedal raisers, maybe we should think about this as we do car seats, a necessity.

www.elap.co.uk/autoadapt-pedals/

Doctors are reluctant to prescribe drugs for pregnant women because of the posdible risk to the baby. Think of thalidomide. You just cannot cite sexism when a non pregnant person is offered drugs and a pregnant person is refused them!

Car safety research is carried out using dead bodies. This is why it is very difficult to develop reliable child car seats, because obviously no one donates a child's body to research. The same would apply to pregnant women I expect - it leaves the researchers having to guess. By the way I am not suggesting that ford/vauxhall etc are unloading corpses round the back to try their cars out on, I am talking about the scientific research programmes which provide information used by companies.

It's not always a man/woman thing either - ex H and his friends had Lotus cars back in the day. They were all designed for someone of 5'8" because that was how tall the creator/designer of them was, forget his name. Ex H was ok but his taller friends struggled to drive them.

This is half the population struggling here. Not a few people. Half

Well, I'm a woman, average height and I certainly don't class myself as struggling. Sometimes things like shelves or cupboards being high are just to make best use of space. As someone else said many things are just made 'standard' to suit the majority because it's cheaper. I have a relative who is a police officer, she doesn't have issues with any uniform or equipment not fitting and she's average height. Someone mentioned the tip being set up for men. I bet it's mostly men that go to the tip. Someone else mentioned home base not selling 'small' gloves. They do, I have both heavy duty and gardening gloves in size small from home base and other DIY stores.

I believe there are some men who are sexist, I do think there are some things which are not set up for women. There are also things which are difficult for small or tall people in general or left handed people or...... The list is endless.

I do think there are many women who want to moan that they are so hard done by. As a woman I just don't feel this.

Surely you can see the car crash thing is pretty shocking however?

Plus the medical stuff.

Someone else mentioned home base not selling 'small' gloves. They do, I have both heavy duty and gardening gloves in size small from home base and other DIY stores

When I've looked, the packets indicate that small and extra small are available, they're just not stocked. I ended up getting children's gardening gloves from Wilkos. It never struck me as misogyny though, would have thought gardening fairly even split between the sexes, just irritating. My OH can never get gloves to fit either, 6ft with wide hands and stubby fingers so not an 'average shape. I'll tell him to blame the patriarchy :-)

I agree its the sad world we live in. Im a brown woman so not only have to deal with structural patriarchy but also structural racism. Once you're eyes have been opened to the truth its difficult to not feel angry.

Car manufacturers exist to make a profit, they're not an equalities charity.

Women ARE in most cases, shorter and physically weaker than men. Also women have breasts, nothing to do with men, it's not their fault. The three point seat belt has saved literally millions of lives. It's not some misogynistic conspiracy, it's efficient design. If you can think of another way of restraining a ten stone human safely, without the g-forces generated in a head on collision separating the lumbar spine from the pelvis, please tell us, I would love to hear about it. High heels are torture for most women, but I don't hear anybody blaming men for forcing us to wear them! Should the automotive industry build separate versions of cars for men and women? Hiw would they make a profit if they did?

It isn't mens fault that we are smaller. It isn't mens fault that we are weaker. If you don't like current designs then get your finger out and design your own. If there is a market for womens stairs, power tools, house bricks, cars, pavements, light switches . . . . .