Fleming on driving
I’ve been enjoying reading the Ian Fleming Bond novels in sequence. This little snippet of vintage sexism from Thunderball struck me as boorish, but insightful:
Women are often meticulous and safe drivers, but they are very seldom first-class. In general Bond regarded them as a mild hazard and he always gave them plenty of road and was ready for the unpredictable. Four women in a car he regarded as the highest potential danger, and two women nearly as lethal. Women together cannot keep silent in a car, and when women talk they have to look into each opther’s faces. An exchange of words is not enough. They have to see the other person’s expression, perhaps in order to read behind the other’s words or to analyse the reaction to their own. So two women in the front seat of a car constantly distract each other’s attention from the road ahead and four women are more than doubly dangerous, for the driver not only has to hear, and see, what her companion is saying, but also, for women are like that, what the other two behind are talking about.
I should point out that, as the shorter-legged member of the family, I usually ride in the back seat, so I have witnessed this first hand.
Tags: Humor