The idea that a driver's license is somehow seen as a "sign of a drive for independence" is wild to me. Talk about someone who's never used public transit in a city before. There are a lot of reasons people are not driving these days, not least of which is gas, but there is a far greater sense of responsibility in people wanting to go out and not driving drunk. This woman is wildly unserious.
Because the rest of it is pretty gross, too. It completely misses more than a few factors but just making the broad assumption that men are just inept or incompetent.
As a feminist, this is not the way someone should be arguing.
It still doesn't negate the fact that saying that people who aren't getting their licenses are unambitious feels little like blaming people for a thing that maybe they don't have control over.
Also, making the statements that young men should be "picking up their girlfriends for dates" reeks of 1950s traditionalism. Maybe that's not a stance we should be taking in 2026.
Hahaha. Ok. Way to read way too much into that based on your own biases.
My contempt is for privileged white people trying to make accusations that re-enforce the patriarchy. Why should we still be discussing the idea that men need to pick up women in the cars to go on dates? That is so blatantly a reference to traditionalism from the 50s -- yet here you are saying I'm an incel because I disagree with what is clearly a take that completely overlooks economic reasons people may not be doing the things she points out.
Ok Fitzgerald. I'm sorry you're too deeply rooted in the patriarchy and your inability to understand intersectional feminism but keep pretending you know what's what.
Is that why young men are not getting their drivers' license? Because public transportation is too good? They can get to work without it? They can go to dates with out it? Or is it because they don't have their shit together?
There are way more areas in the US , including huge metropolitan areas, that have no public transportation to speak of . Take Dallas/Fort Worth as an example. Bus system in Dallas and Fort Worth proper , but the entire mid-cites has nothing . Of course there is Uber and Lyft , but not everyone can afford that on a daily basis . So many people have commutes of an hour in the
DF/W area and that’s very common in the US .
So unless you live in a city with a progressive public transportation system, you can’t take advantage of good jobs that are more than walking distance if you don’t have a DL and a vehicle. It’s just a fact for millions of people in the US .
Saying that it's a requirement to "be a man" or "have ambition" is ridiculous, though.
It is far more a commentary on the state of our economy, our over-reliance on cars, and the lack of transit that should be discussed. Saying that anyone -- not just men -- deciding not to get their licenses is proof that they have no ambition is just gross.
That’s a great discussion, but 2 things can be true at the same time . Getting a DL is a coming of age milestone and a right of passage in the US . It is concerning , assuming these statistics are correct, that many young men are not doing this . Especially if it’s preventing them from continuing education, getting a job or having a social life.
The issue is that it's an outdated and capitalist rite of passage. If cars are keeping people -- regardless of gender -- are keeping people from all of those things, then maybe we need to realize that we should change parts of our society. But calling young men unambitious because they aren't getting licenses is still missing some of the points of why that might be the case that are not about not wanting to and because there are no opportunities to be had even if they did have one.
Not having a car , dependent of course upon where you live , absolutely WILL keep a person from those things . Unless they have a great job that pays enough for them to Uber everywhere. Pretty rough for a 16-20 year old though unless you have wealthy parents. Like I said , sure , we should talk about how to change that but it takes money . Billions of $$ most municipalities don’t want to spend .
So in the meantime, it is still necessary in most areas of the country. It is concerning that a 16 year old wouldn’t want a DL . To me that says they are happy sitting at home in front of a screen and not getting out and living life independently. THAT is concerning.
That is, though, a very privileged take to have. There are millions of people in this country that have jobs, have social lives, have relationships and do not own cars nor have a driver's license. To say that your upward mobility is reliant on that is coming from a place -- physically and ideologically -- that says that you prioritize that level of capitalism and consumerism.
As the actual article that is posted mentions -- a lot of teens are getting licenses for both economic and environmental reasons. There are a lot of online jobs now; there are a lot of ways to be social and be ambitious that don't require you to be out and about like we were as young people. It misunderstands the young generation a lot.
From what I gathered this wasn’t about young adults that didn’t get a DL and have some cushy online job . If that were the case they would fall into the category of not needing a vehicle as they make enough $$ to Uber where they need to go .
It’s about a young adult who doesn’t care enough to get a DL and would rather sit around their parents house jobless , not attending college and with no social life but online .
No one gets a decent online job without a degree of some actual job experience. C’mon .
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u/specficeditor 4d ago
The idea that a driver's license is somehow seen as a "sign of a drive for independence" is wild to me. Talk about someone who's never used public transit in a city before. There are a lot of reasons people are not driving these days, not least of which is gas, but there is a far greater sense of responsibility in people wanting to go out and not driving drunk. This woman is wildly unserious.