Boys vs. Girls

This past weekend, I visited my boyfriend at University of Iowa. Now, it took a lot of convincing, but my parents eventually agreed to let me go. My mom said she wanted me to drive as oppose to the other boy that I was going with. I have driven to colleges or other far places numerous times. However, each of those 6 or 7 times, I only drove other girls in the car with me. As soon as we got in the car, I immediately realized this wasn't going to be the car ride I was used to. Luckily, me and the other boy I was driving with get along really well and had lots of good conversation, however I noticed something very different. Normally, I print out Mapquest directions to wherever I am going, and I assign whoever is sitting in the front seat to be the 'navigator' and help me with the directions. First of all, my friends know by now that sitting in the front seat guarantees this job, and because of that very few of them ever wish to sit in the front seat. With a boy, however, he immediately took charge of the directions. He held onto them the entire time, and wasn't afraid to tell me exactly what the next turn would be or what are next exit was. Regaurdless of the fact that this was my third time driving to Iowa, and he had never driven there, because he was the 'man' of the car, I think he felt he needed to take control and help me. Now, I'm not saying he thinks I am weaker or that I needed to be helped, and it was in fact very helpful, but right away it made me think of learning in Soc about how males feel that they need to take control, and always know what to do and when to do it, especially when it comes to a female. Whereas my girlfriends would hesitate about the directions, afraid to lead me the wrong direction, often saying things such as "I think this is right..." the boy in the car always talked as though he knew for a fact it was right, and studied the directions carefully to make sure to direct me exactly where I needed to go. We luckily got to and from Iowa safely, but I think I could have done it without a boy helping me ;)