Don't Blame the Guy, He was Just Hormonal

Dr. Wes is a bit put out with the sexist interpretation a female researcher gives to men with too much testosterone. Does too much testosterone make muscle-bound men cut women off the road in a hormone driven rampage? "Yes," according to a study by a team of researchers on the effects of testosterone:

“Tests on brain cells in lab dishes showed that while a little of the male hormone is good, too much of it causes cells to self-destruct in a process similar to that seen in brain illnesses such as Alzheimer's.”

But it seems rats weren’t enough. It seems the ladies had to go and cross the line:

"Next time a muscle-bound guy in a sports car cuts you off on the highway, don't get mad -- just take a deep breath and realize that it might not be his fault," Ehrlich said in a statement.

Perhaps these same researchers of male deficiencies could try to make sense out of the increased road rage of women in the two decades:

The angry, young male profile of the aggressive driver is changing. The number of non-fatal traffic accidents involving women has increased eighteen percent over the last twenty years. Women's involvement in non-fatal accidents in 2000 was greater than that of men. Dr. Barbara Curbow, an assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at John Hopkins University, researched the driving behavior of working women. Curbow discovered that women who have a demanding job and the additional stress of providing a good home life for their families "often become Mad Maxine on the roads." Futhermore, Curbow found a stronger correlation between stressful home lives and aggressive driving than aggressive driving caused by job stress. "Road rage was highest for women with low home rewards and high home responsibilities...[it was] lowest for women with high home rewards and high home responsibilities."

So Dr. Wes makes a good point when he says this about "soccer moms":

Have you ever been on the road at the hours between 3PM and 4 PM and seen a woman on a cell phone, sipping a latte, driving an SUV like a bat out of hell as she rushes to pick up her kids from school? It makes us 'muscle-bound guys' look like fairies! Never, ever, pretend such a woman gives a damn about anyone else on the road. Just stay out of her way. It seems womens’ amygdala are in epileptiform tetany at this time of day. Please, Dr. Ehrlich, don’t be too quick to judge male driving habits.

So, according to these studies, for women, it appears that road rage is a social response to stress and for men, it is biological due to too much testosterone. Does this mean that medical and behavioral experts should get men off the hook for road rage incidents since they can't help themselves? I doubt that will ever happen (nor should it, necessarily). I do, however, find it interesting that women's problems always seem to be blamed on other people--you know, those people who do not reward them enough at home, while men's problems are always blamed on the man himself, when convenient, or on biology, but only when convenient.

What do you think, who is more angry on the roads, men or women?

Update: Speaking of road rage, I assisted a colleague in putting out a road rage tape some years ago. I see it is still up on Amazon but I so do not recommend it.