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.

rightreckoner

I used men as the default for the same reason car manufacturers build cars to a certain standard. A small parson can always fit inside a big car, but a big person cannot always fit inside a small car. Therefore the default setting is the car everybody could use.

That's just common sense, although I know some struggle with the concept.

Seatbelts are and always have been in every car I've been in or owned, across my neck, how do you adjust them?

There was a survey of jeans. Regular every day jeans.
Men could fit their hands completely into the pockets of 100% of the jeans.
Women could fit their hands into about 20%.

Do you think millions of women just woke up and independently decided to wear high heels for no reason?

A small parson can always fit inside a big car

The article in the OP specifically covers this, discussing how sitting higher up and further forward leaves smaller drivers (who are predominantly female) at higher risk of serious and fatal injury. It discusses that safety tests don't take female drivers into account as the driver crash test dummies are based on the male averages, the only female crash test dummies are passengers and even then they're not based on female averages, they are simply smaller male crash test dummies. Seat belts do not account for the female form, specifically breasts. The seatbelt test, one of the frontal-collision tests, and both lateral-collision tests all specify that a 50th-percentile male dummy should be used. A car design that passes these is considered safe, despite only being tested as such for the average male.

That's just common sense, although I know some struggle with the concept.

The point of the article is to think about the myriad of subtle and insidious ways in which women are disadvantaged and even endangered due to planning and design standards ring skewed in favour of men.

My grandmother often commented that things like the location of electrical sockets were an indication of the lack of everyday practicality of men. She said putting them at floor level meant they were easy for kids to stick their fingers in, having to have cords you can trip over, can’t plug a hairdryer and have room to style hair comfortably, risky if a washing machine leaks or there’s a flood, etc.
There are more options with sockets nowadays but it’s just one example.
Lots of home appliances used to have zero design input from women, even though they were the target user.
Nowadays, of course, you see issues where lots of Apps are designed exclusively by men because there are so few women in the key jobs in the IT industry.

Hiking boots. Women's hiking boots are IME men's hiking boots in smaller sizes and with a slightly different colour palette. They always grip your leg in the wrong place, give shit ankle support and put pressure on your shins.

I also used to work in a lab where we used a lot of automated equipment. We got a piece of kit in to test from this company that was extremely old school and men only (the boss called me Snow White!) and it had been machined with really sharp edges and all the connections you had to put in required a lot of force so that it was painful to use, for everyone, but especially for people with less grip strength. Luckily our group consisted of two young blokes, four women and one older guy who had mild arthritis, so we were able to tell our bosses we wouldn't work with it. We ended up giving the business to a company that worked with is to create something we could actually use. I remember the Snow White guy was actually incredulous that we would reject his kit because it was painful to use. But it's exactly in those sorts of situations that people start taking shortcuts because you're sort of averse to using the kit properly and you're not aware of why.

Heels are required dress code for female employees in many companies despite research showing the long term damage they can cause.
And that is what is wrong, that's something to be angry about and to fight against. I have actually been told to wear heels for work and when I complained (I have size one feet, so even apart from the principle of the thing, there are very few high heels that would fit me).
Obviously, I don't disagree with everything the article says, (sorry, reading back what I wrote, it did come across like that) things such as police vests not fitting women and seatbelts being less effective are awful and should be challenged. Plus, the Viagra thing mentioned up thread- that's's something which really does make me angry.
But mixing these problems in with "why shouldn't cement bags be smaller" diminishes them as people will read it and tar it all with the same brush.

Sorry, was meant to say that when I complained, I was listened to and the company agreed it was an outdated rule. I know that other women who've complained about such things and not had their opinions respected.

There was a case some time ago which concluded that it was an unreasonable expectation that women should wear heels in the workplace. Apart from anything else it’s an infringement of disability legislation as many women have conditions which prevent them from wearing heels. If it had ever been pushed with me I’d have dug my (flat) heels in.

I think the point is though that things we don’t even consider and surround us are affected by this bias all the time. Bricks and standard weights of bags of cement were set at a time when the vast majority of those using and handling them were men. I’ve seen MRAs who complain that women don’t want to do jobs like construction or join the fire service but the equipment is literally not designed to be used by women, and that is a hindrance. I’m just used to not being able to use my phone one handed or reach shelves or feel uncomfortable in seat belts and so on. The attitude is that women are used to making do.

I was thinking earlier about periods - if men literally bled and experienced pain for 25% of the time, we’d have more options for painkillers / treatments, there’d be more studies and research funding into gynae disorders, there’d certainly be the option of menstrual leave but we are expected to just get on with it. PMS wouldn’t be a joke - it would be something to fear, most likely.

How would men like everything to fit a 4'10 woman?

I'd be pissed off with that and I'm a woman.

@DaisyStarburst

Seatbelts are and always have been in every car I've been in or owned, across my neck, how do you adjust them?

There should be a slide height adjustment thingy (technical term) where it attaches to the door pillar at the top.

I’m 4’11 and many things are just out of my reach, or uncomfortable for me. I always put it down to my size. But yes, this is right, it’s because just about everything is designed for the male body as default. Bloody angry now! Women are not the same as titchy men, our bodies are different in many ways

It is down to your size though. I'm about 5'5" and I don't struggle with anything really. Occasionally I can't reach something on a supermarket shelf if it's high and far back. The supermarket is just making use of its space. I just ask someone to reach it for me, sometimes a taller woman, sometimes a taller man.

I find it frightening that some women really think that the world is against them and men are the enemy. They believe this propaganda and class of all as misogynistic and it's really not.

*class it all

You think this is paranoia and propaganda?

Why aren’t there stab vests designed for women?
Why was further research not done when viagra was found to stop severe period pain?
Why do gynae conditions that are horribly debilitating get around 10% of the research funding of conditions that affect similar numbers of people but also affect men?
Why have women been killed by air bags in slow speed collisions because they have to sit closer to the dashboard?
Why are women given less pain relief in hospitals than men for the same conditions and why does it take longer?
Why are women given medications that have only been tested on men?
Why were the trials for a Male contraceptive halted due to “unreasonable side effects”, similar or less than the side effects women experience?

The sad part is that this is so insidious you can’t even see it when it’s pointed out to you.

Even the lowest seat belt level cuts across my neck and I’m 5 3. You wouldn’t think be that hard make it slightly lower.

OscarIsaacsEyes
Yes, exactly! There's no doubt that some things are better suited for men because men were deemed more important or simply "the default" but there are practical reasons for it to. I'm the same height as you but have tiny hands and feet. (I mean REALLY tiny) The fact that it's more difficult for me to find smart, workplace shoes or hold inordinately big iPhones one handed is down to me having significantly smaller hands and feet and you just deal with that.

The article was an eye opener on so many levels. However, with regard to office temperature, office life is not just men and young women. Speaking as a middle aged woman I appreciate a cooler temperature.

SinkGirl

I a previous post I said that I think some men are sexist and some things are set up for men. But I really don't think there's as much of it as some women like to believe. I've already said I have a female relative, average height who is a police officer and has no issue with any equipment. I suppose the equipment is made for the majority due to costs, unfortunately. Smaller people, including men sit closer to the dashboard, not just women. My grandad was average height but had short legs and always sat close to the dashboard. It not just women. I don't have answers to all your queries, some may involve sexism, I'm sure many do not. I'd have to research. I think the fact that you have all these examples that you think are down to misogyny means you are someone who is overly aware and looks out for ways you are treated differently and when you see a difference you automatically assume it's because you're a women. That in itself is something that will hold you back in the world.

*In a previous post

Some of these examples are just down to practicalities - kitchen cupboards are high to make use of space. Either don't have them, don't use them or buy a step ladder. It isn't a conspiracy against women though is it?

Male contraceptives - I bet that they aren't being developed because the appetite for them isn't great. Even if they existed and men were willing to take them how many women would be happy to rely on them? Would there be a big enough market to make it worth a company spend money on developing them?

We aren't passive in much of this. I choose things that work for me. In most cases you can find something that works for you by shopping around. I don't think it's realistic to expect everything to fit perfectly a 5 foot tall person. I'm 5'5 and I would find that uncomfortable.

They don’t exist in the market because the trial was halted, as I stated previously
www.newscientist.com/article/2110729-male-contraceptive-injection-works-but-side-effects-halt-trial/

I don’t keep a list - that just came off the top of my head. The fact that the evidence is there staring you in the face yet you still deny it is perturbing.

For drivers it’s not just about height but the physical differences between men and women, which you would know if you’d read the article before criticising it. Female crash test dummies are not mandatory for testing - the only place they do crop up it’s in the passenger seat only (and then it’s only a scaled down version of the male dummies).

Women are half the population - how is it defensible? Women women are 17% more likely to die in a crash than men because of this.