My boyfriend is a terrible driver and can get lost driving around a block. But also he sucks at video games. Thank goodness he's good at other things.

How did the gay women in this study fare?

The reason gay men aren't good at navigating with our senses, is because whenever we are in the mood for a hot hookup at 3am with some guy that lives in the West Village, we make sure to hit up google maps before we go. We know any kind of delay in our route could totally blow the reason why we're heading there at all.

@marybanjo: So is mine. Seriously, he doesn't drive and cannot navigate. It's the saddest thing ever. I mean, how can you not know how to get to your house?

Virtual reality? Um, I think this just proves that straight men spend waaaay too much time with their mistress, Nintendo.

I'm a straight woman, and I love Grand Theft Auto.

But I often use my jetpack cheat to fly and get a bird's eye view of things. You know, so I don't get lost.

I suck with directions but I'm a damn good driver. Which is why when my boyfriend and I do road rallies together, I do the driving and he navigates.

I call bull**** science on this. Still, I can't seem to find my way around the block while hubby can navigate a city he's never been to. BUT he's been in about a dozen more accidents that were his fault SO! who's the "better" driver???

My husband is a terrible driver, he spaces out and misses turns and shit all the time, even on familiar routes.

Could it be that women don't learn to read maps as well as men because of social conditioning?

@Rick Astley: With my Garmin Nuvi 650, I do very well.

@Reluctant Financier: My gays can't drive b/c their Blackberries and iPhones are constantly blowing up with texts that they, "OMG, have to check right now!" and they're usually fumbling through their iPods for unnecessary cover songs that are "OMG, so clever!".
Have I mentioned that my gays are all 13-year-old girls in grown men's bodies?

Bullshit. I have an amazing sense of direction PLUS I am willing to stop and get help if needed. I will always reach the destination first, no matter who I am racing.

Put these people on a real street and test them.

i'm a girl and love mario-kart!

Is there any actual real world value to this study? No? Fuck 'em then.

@bowlingfordollars: OMG. I love my Nuvi 650. All drivers should have one.

And clearly this survey did not count my husband, who can't drive worth a damn.

@rocknrollunicorn: ditto. I may get lost, but I'll totes get there FIRST.

Semantics. "Better" or "Safer" or "Tops At the Wheel" not nec the same thing, are they?

I'm a straight male and my 12-y.o. daughter would absolutely destroy me at any video game imaginable.

shenanigans.

Do they count all the accidents caused by young straight men? Do they count all the street racing incidents by young men?

If women are "safer" drivers, how is that not "better?"

Is it better to get somewhere more quickly with less turns than to get there more safely.

Whatever, I am sick of all these studies that "prove" women do this, men do that.

BULLSHIT! Pure and total bullshit.

F this. Every man I have ever dated couldn't navigate their way out of a paper bag. I have saved more than one asshole from pulling a National Lampoon's Vacation in cities that I have never been to. I don't know if that says more about my awesome sense of navigation or the men I date...

@biscuitdoughjones: Ah. Well that may be the case with my gays too.. however none of us drive, we rely on foot or cabs. But we're no different than any other straight guy or girl in that anywhere below 4th street, you may as well blindfold us because NO ONE can help but get lost down there.

@LadyNo: I don't know, I can read a map like it's nobody's business. My friends and I went on a trip throughout Europe in a car and I was navigator the entire 6 weeks. We only got lost once.
BTW, my really good male friend has the worst sense of direction of anybody I've ever met. He always drives and his wife plays navigator for him. So I totally call BS on this "scientific study".

i too call bullshit. i think it depends person-to-person. my mom? awesome with maps. my dad and i? TERRIBLE. i'm probably the worst ever with directions though-- the other day i was driving somewhere with my boyfriend, and he goes "ok, take a right at the next stoplight." so at the next stoplight i turn...and as soon as i'm through the turn he goes "uh...sweetie? you turned left."

i had no idea. sometimes, i think the DMV should confiscate my license, not because i'm a bad driver, but because i get lost so often.

WAIT JUST A MINUTE

"..men consistently do better in tasks requiring navigation and uncovering hidden objects."

I submit as Exhibit A, the Clitoris - a 'hidden object' apparently uncovered by millions of men for centuries.

Thus, I throw the bullshit flag.

Doesn't it have to do with spatial reasoning? Men are supposed to be better at spatial reasoning, which is why they're better at driving, navigating, etc. Of course, that's a wide sweeping generalization. I just know I'm terrible with directions, but it's all good because I don't mind getting lost, and get myself lost on purpose to figure out where I'll end up.

@nikaoh: That is because Mario Kart (especially when you get sixteen people playing together on a LAN) is most brilliant.

also, I can give and take directions, find my way backwards using weird directions that I don't want to take, and ask if necessary.

@onthecornerofparkerandwoolf: Maybe the problem isn't with all directions, per se. I still have difficulty with my left and right, and my kindergarten teacher wanted TO FAIL ME because I could not grasp it. And it's like my one intellectual failing, if you can call it that.

I think there's a slight misfire in my synapses or something. Because east, west, north and south all make sense to me, but right and left require a good deal of thought.

@ThaKadinskyPapers: comment of the day

@ThaKadinskyPapers: Annnnnnnnnnd my crush on you continues.

So... how does having no sense of direction equate to being a bad driver?

@rocknrollunicorn: i appreciate the sympathy, but unfortunately the cardinal directions fail me too. i generally think "north" is "whatever direction i'm currently facing."

but it's ok. i give myself extra time if i'm going somewhere new, am a master at politely asking strangers for directions (even if i don't really speak the language), and know that if i'm going to be in a foreign country, i had damn well better take someone who knows how to read a freaking map.

Good. We can all think about this while driving to the mammograms we need to prevent the breast cancer that hasn't been cured yet. Thanks, scientific studies!

So this study was mainly based off of one metric: men can navigate better.

I'm a straight male. My father and mother both navigate very well, both get into many accidents. I honestly can't believe that gender effects your actual driving ability.

On the streets of Phoenix I see as many miserable male drivers as female drivers. My anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much, but any gender-based study is shite in my book.

This is cross-posted on Jalopnik so get ready for an influx of us skeevy guys.

@Miss Smith Drank Your Vodka: More to driving than safety. So yeah, you can be a terrible driver but still be safe.

Performance at VR navigation clearly isn't the same as being a "better driver." I've known just as many incompetent male navigators as female.

It's pretty funny to see that the average Jezebel reader is apparently attracted to incompetent male navigators. Apparently it's a little-known turn on.

@Mad_Science: I sometimes pretend to be confused by maps to pick up lay-deez.

@onthecornerofparkerandwoolf: I'm the same way. And I can only remember left and right because I have a freckle (okay, a mole, goddammit) on the thumb web of my right hand, and yes, I still have to check it sometimes.

@TruculentandUnreliable: yeah, i still make an "L" with my forefinger and thumb or sign my name in the air to tell the difference. it's a touch embarassing when people catch you doing that.

@PaisleyPajamas: sweet, sweet nofriendo, or in these guy's cases, nogirlfriendo.

i read a study about how men naturally have a better sense of direction in relation to N/S--like they have more of a natural compass, while women are better at landmark directions--following direction based on landmarks. my bf is good at finding his way in places that we don't know--far better than me, but i can always help us to find the way out, and usually by noting things like "oh yeah, turn left here--we passed that mcdonalds on our way in"

THis is utter BS. Straight men play more video games, therefore they are better at playing video games. I don't think there is necessarily any correlation to driving at all.

@onthecornerofparkerandwoolf: ah, cardinal direction--that was the phrase i was looking for! and i do the L for left thing too...

@TruculentandUnreliable: Oh, and we've had a stick for a year and a half and I still haven't learned to drive it. I started to, but I'm not sure my husband is the best person to teach me, because I get really nervous and he doesn't understand why I'm nervous...

Does this mean that gay woman can't drive at all? Because pretty much all my friends who own cars are also lesbians, and I need a couch moved. Am I taking my life in my hands?
Fuck it, whatever, I'm not hiring movers, that's for sure.

@Rick Astley:
I wonder if Subarus come with built-in GPS now...

So it this why laydees are having a hard time getting back to the kitchen?

@Dr.Danger: I'm sorry, on jezebel that translates to: "I'm just asking for an ass-kicking"

@Dr.Danger: Ha! Has anyone ever told you that you're both attractive and clever?

Didn't think so.

@hatepaperdoll: Well I wouldn't take a chance on the femmes (femme's? god damn apostrophe), that's for sure.

@Kataroo_Kangaroo: Well, us skeevy Jalopies have a sense of sarcasm.

@Dr.Danger: Huh, did you get lost on the way in and end up at Jezebel? You should work on your sense of direction hon.