Go ahead and check your mirrors and buckle up, dear reader, because this AITA Reddit post is a jolting ride. One dad mistakenly took to the internet on Sunday to share his tale of woe about his teenage son who is learning how to drive.
When the father-son duo started practicing together, his son was “sometimes too hesitant” and “lacked confidence” when merging on the freeway and changing lanes. We agree with OP when he said this hesitance and driving too slow can be dangerous.
“When he does [this], I would tell him he is driving like a woman,” this dad wrote.
Oh. No. He. Did. Not.
At this point, many readers stopped reading and jumped to the comments to say they didn’t need to hear another word from this a—hole. And you know what? We wouldn’t blame you if you decided to do the same. It’s Monday, it’s 2023, and we know you’re tired of this sh*t.
“I did not mean it in a bad way,” OP said. Are you kidding me? You said he was a dangerous driver and then likened it to driving “like a woman,” but you “didn’t mean it in a bad way?”
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“Make it make sense,” one exasperated commenter wrote.
He went on to say that his daughter is a “great driver.” *Gasp!* A woman who is a great driver?! Is this the eighth wonder of the world? Guess what, Dad: Not only is your daughter a great driver, but women are statistically better drivers than men. We’d dive more into that, but unfortunately, this dad did not slow down.
OP said that his son was upset and asked him to stop using that phrase.
“I have no issue stopping with that remark and replacing it with something else,” said the dad, who no doubt has a whole lineup of offensive phrases at the ready, “but I don’t appreciate being lectured as if I am sexist when I was just trying to help him, and used the phrase more like an idiom.”
Excuse us, Sir, but you spelled “idiot” wrong.
This is not an idiom, one commenter pointed out. An idiom is “it’s raining cats and dogs.” This is a targeted insult like “you throw like a girl.”
“What you’re doing is trying to shame your son into being a more aggressive driver by questioning his manhood by comparing him to what you obviously believe to be the weaker gender,” they said.
The mom supposedly agrees and thinks her son was being “petty,” but the couple’s daughter is on her brother’s side. The siblings “have become closer” lately, and she is “influencing his views” (aka teaching him not to be a misogynist), so the dad can’t get away with making the same asinine comments he used to.
How terrible. *Eye roll*
“Gotta love that little snippet,” a Redditor wrote. “Like, ‘Yeah, I taught my son to think that sexism is cool and funny, but now he’s all namby-pamby because his sister is giving him an earful! Women, am I right guys? Guys?!’”
And how awful is it that his son and daughter are both hearing his bullsh*t point of view? One commenter told dad to “shape up, my dude” because words matter and kids don’t forget the things their parents say regardless of intention.
“I think maybe it was wrong to say that but not a-hole level since I did not mean it literally and I am more bothered about how he lectured me and treated me as if I am a massive sexist than if he had just asked me to stop,” this dad said.
“I have been happily married for many years and I am no sexist,” he continued.
HA! He’s married, so he’s not a sexist. “The sexist doth protest too much,” one person wrote. Next up he’ll be telling us he has a Black friend, so he’s not a racist. Proximity does not a non-bigot make, dude!
“If it walks and talks like a sexist duck, it is in fact a sexist duck,” one commenter said, hitting the nail on the head.
After reading over 2,000 comments that say he is an a-hole, OP edited his post to say he will stop using the phrase, but that once again his issue is the way his son was accusing him. Oh boo hoo. Why are you more upset about being called out than you are by the harm this derogatory phrase causes?
“I was using it more like a quick idiot,” OP wrote. That’s either him saying he said it so fast he didn’t think of the ramifications, or it was the perfect Freudian slip when he meant to say “idiom.”
“[It was] so he could realize for himself and correct himself without me telling him what to do,” he clarified.
What? If you’re teaching him how to drive, why would you not give him clear instructions, one user asked. Teach him the rules of the road instead of the ways to be a chauvinist.
“’You’re being over cautious. Stop hesitating’” is a LOT more clear and isn’t sexist!” they said.
Dad is now considering not teaching his son any more and letting the driver’s ed instructor take full control. He’s using this as some kind of weird, poorly-planned punishment/ultimatum in the vein of “unless you let me be a sexist, I won’t teach you.”
How will fewer hours on the road make him a better, safer, “manlier” (*eye roll*) driver?
“Give more practice on the streets to build confidence,” one commenter said. “Go to more challenging roads when traffic is light. Do not stop taking him out for extra practice. The more hours he spends behind the wheel now, the better he will drive when he gets his license.”
Just please, one commenter said, stop being a jerk and creating pressure and anxiety for the driver.
And please, we say, stop spewing the kind of bullsh*t you would expect to hear on the Oregon Trail, not on the freeway.
Before you go, check out these unbelievable stories about Reddit’s worst dads.
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