Play Book Tag discussion

AJ- your review is 5 stars!

Great review! This seems to be a good complementary book to the one that I'm reading now. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter where author Sue Monk Kidd is searching for her Feminine Divine in the very male focused culture in the South in the mid-90s.

I'll definitely be adding this to my to read and mentioning it to one of my book clubs.

Another book along these lines that I read this year is about the gender bias in data and makes me scared for who is creating the algorithms and is 'training' the AI and machine learning that will impact our future, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

I remember your review on that one Charlotte-I actually talked with my daughter about it, as I thought it would be a great book for her. I have to see if she ever got a copy...

@ Joanne - I'd be interested to hear what she thought of it. It pissed me off more than anything else. And now I notice when things aren't made for me. Like the other day I went to grab the dishwashing soap and struggled to grab it with one hand. I was like "come on!! This is sterotypical female activity and even this is made for a man's hand and not a woman's?!?!" although... my hands are very, very small... like kid's sized so it may just be that lol

@AJ I listened to the audio so I may have missed things but I thought it was great!! I made my mom read it but not sure she got out of it as much as I did.

Great review!! I read Rebecca Solnit's latest book a couple of weeks ago and then participated in a virtual author talk with her through my local independent bookstore. She is amazing and I really appreciate her voice speaking up against these practices.

I LOVED Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men as well!

@ Charlotte, also have small hands! I'm always most frustrated at the gym trying to hold on to the weights and other contraptions. They are just too big to hold onto properly.

For me it is cars that are universally made for skinny people with long legs. I am short and round, but very long waisted with short legs and arms. To reach gas and brake pedals and comfortably hold the steering wheeI I have to have the seat all the way forward. This means my gut is against the steering wheel. But that is not all.

Have you ever noticed how much the car tapers down beginning at the driver's seat to create a sleek and probably aerodynamic curve to the hood? Well when you are long waisted but have the car seat pulled all the way forward, the top of your head is about an inch from the roof of the car. This means to get in or out you either have to bend in half to get out of the car, which you can't do with your gut up against the steering, or you have to push the seat back. Meaning readjusting it to drive every time you get in. Worst, and this is true of every Nissan model car I have ever driven, is when even with the seat all the way forward you can barely reach the gas or brake pedals; you end up driving with your toes.

I live in NYC, Manhattan to be exact, and owning a car is incredibly inconvenient, expensive and unnecessary. I rent when I need a car, mostly using Zipcar.com, a car sharing company. I have driven a wide variety of cars, foreign and American, and I am convinced that Nissan and VW (especially the Golf) were designed by misogynists and fat-shamers.

Not that I have strong opinions or anything. 😏 I am afraid I would end up so angry after reading something like Invisible Women, I would never recover.

AJ wrote: "I’m laughing at the VW thing because I drive a VW Golf GTI and I’m 5 feet tall with shorter legs and a longer torso. I don’t mind having my seat too far forward but I am worried that if I ever get ..."

There is that, too. One of the additional things about the Golf that I hate is that the driver's seat is designed to cradle your hips for reasons I cannot fathom, meaning it has a lip on the left that you have to lift over to get out of the car. You can't just slide. Now just try getting out from behind a steering wheel you are up against by simultaneously lifting yourself up and ducking down!

Although that feature may have changed in recent models. I only reserve VWs if there are no other options.

There is a whole section in Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men on how cars and especially car safety are all based on an average sized guy and how it it is "too complicated" to really consider women-sized drivers or even passengers.

AJ wrote: "I understand that many people feel that this book of essays provides nothing new or groundbreaking. However, I have chosen to rate it 5 stars because if you read this book you will get a very good ..."

I can see why this would be so excellent for you! I took this out of the library, but ended up not reading it because, back before my alma mater was able to offer it as a major, I did a minor in Women's Studies and we delved into all of this sort of stuff. Given my long time interested in this area (starting when I was 9 or 10) it didn't have much for me so I didn't read it, BUT I suggested my daughters read it. One was busy with school and the other not interested.

As a woman who used to be five foot 10 ( lost an inch between 40 and 50), I don't have a problem with cars, but I do understand how problematic it is for most women since the average height of women in the States is just under 5 foot 4.

Some manufacturers are doing a lot to make things more adjustable, such as being able to raise and lower the steering column, the driver's seat, etc.

On a side note, when my eldest was 5 she was going to grow up and make cars because there aren't enough pink and purple cars on the road.

@AJ, although I didn't have them installed on my current car, for many years I had custom pedal extenders installed to get me further away from the air bag!
I do a lot of cycling, and one of the happiest moments of my cycling life was when I purchased my first D4W bicycle (designed for women). I could finally get to and around the brake levers!

I am also short and pull the car seat all the way up. But in an unrelated size in world experience that has nothing to do with men and design, I always had a bone to pick about the movies. Like I would get there early to pick a good seat, and invariably just before or during the credits, a tall woman with a hat would sit in front of me! Like her experience was more important than mine. It drives me nuts when tall people at the last moment sit in front of short ones and don’t think twice. Ruins the movie for me. And they don’t have any conception. It never once occurs to a tall person to think about where they sit in the movie! I am driven insane by the lack of consideration. But I have seen so few movies in person in the last decade.... that said, not a make design or name issue. Just how the world Isn’t made for everyone.

Amy wrote: "I am also short and pull the car seat all the way up. But in an unrelated size in world experience that has nothing to do with men and design, I always had a bone to pick about the movies. Like I w..."

Or big hair...

Amy wrote: "I am also short and pull the car seat all the way up. But in an unrelated size in world experience that has nothing to do with men and design, I always had a bone to pick about the movies. Like I w..."

That's how I feel about tall men sitting in front of me! I have always preferred the back row, but if I go with someone who doesn't like sitting that far back I am also usually going after the big rush has died down so I sit where I want to (no one is behind me yet) so no one shorter than me has to sit behind me. Since I like no talking during movies (I don't care during the previews if people talk) I usually like to sit in a movie theatre that isn't very full where people all sit in their own little areas. Nowadays I just hope no one between me and the screen uses their cell phone, etc, during the movie. I am such a grump when it comes to this!