Publicity-Hungry German Mayor Designates Difficult Parking Spaces as ‘Dude-Only’

So this is happening in the world — Gallus Strobel, the mayor of a German town called Triberg, has told the local paper Süddeutsche Zeitung that he hopes to “challenge political correctness” by designating dude-only parking spaces. How, might you ask, does this new policy glove-slap political correctness across the face? The parking spaces will be for guys only because they’re apparently harder to get into.

The gendered parking spots are marked with standard gender symbols, with guy spots sandwiched between huge cement pillars that force the driver to test his familiarity with The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift by throwing his automobile in reverse and trying very hard not to hit anything while maneuvering into the narrow parking spot. The lady spots, conversely, are in well-lit areas and closer to lot exits. “Men,” said Strobel, explaining his new scheme (which I’m sure taxpaying town residents are just super excited about), “are, as a rule, a little better at such challenges.” As a male someone with a pathological fear of parallel parking on crowded streets (pedestrians can be super judgey), I can say that Strobel’s driving worldview is a little, um, stupid.

The good mayor of Triberg admits that gendering his town’s parking spots is nothing more than a publicity stunt aimed at inciting people to visit his Black Forest hamlet, so it’s not very satisfying to express any real anger towards the guy (he’s just trolling for some misogynist motorists, after all). It’s especially hard to be angry at Strobel if you close your eyes and picture him wearing a big, mayoral sash and a top hat as he tempers the obvious criticism his new policy will provoke by saying, “Of course, there are also great woman drivers! They are, of course, most welcome!” It helps, I think, to imagine Strobel as just a German version of Amity’s mayor from Jaws as he spouts off about a bunch of stuff that’s clearly going to come back to bite him in the ass.