My son had his seventh birthday party this weekend. Of the six parents bringing their children to our house, only one phoned for directions – and that was a woman. Even Rupert Sheldrake couldn’t read anything into those statistics, but it did get me thinking again about those stereotypes about men, women and maps. “Men may be better at finding the car when its parked in a huge shopping centre car-park,” in a BBC News story. “Gay men employ the same strategies for navigating as women - using landmarks to find their way around,” according to a New Scientist story, “but they also use the strategies typically used by straight men, such as using compass directions and distances. In contrast, gay women read maps just like straight women, reveals the study of 80 heterosexual and homosexual men and women.”
Anyway, here’s one I hadn’t come across before. I’m reading an advance copy of You Are Here by Colin Ellard (it’s not coming out till April, but you can read about it here. And here’s a very diverting entry from his blog). It's a fascinating read so far, and on Saturday morning I came across a real gem.
Traditional navigators from the island of Pulawat in the South Pacific travel vast distances in their canoes. One of their navigational tools is to feel the swell of the ocean and use it as a clue to their whereabouts. They claim to use, among other things, “seat of the pants” navigation: they “learn that they pattern of swells is easiest to detect by paying attention to the pattern of stimulation of the testicles”. Brilliant. There’s one navigational method where the women just can’t compete. Ball bearings, as it were.
Funnily enough, we were driving to some friends’ house on Sunday, and my son accused me of driving too fast. “You’re making my nuts feel funny,” he said. Forget the dashboard display, that’s my new measure of driving speed. And if I go too fast, and ignore the warning signs, does that make me a testicular chancer?
Enough…
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