Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Gender Profiling

I drive stick shift.

It's true.

Nowadays I'm very adroit at shifting, steering, and eating an assortment of burritos while talking on the phone. However, when I first got my adorable little "midget hearse" of a car, I was not so smooth, nor so confident.

One night, late, on my way to my parents, I got a phone call. Reluctant to drive and talk at the same time, I pulled off the road into a small parking lot. It was pitch black, probably after 11, and I was wrapping up the conversation when I saw lights pulling in the parking lot and parking in front of me.

Police lights.

I hung up quickly.

A big, scary, authoritative voice bellowed, "Please step out of your vehicle!" (I have a terrible paranoia of police officers and I started shaking.) I was taught to obey. I opened my door and stepped out.

The police officer's entire demeanor changed. "Oh, hello. Sorry, miss. Just checking."

What a nice man! Stopping to make sure I was okay. "Oh, I'm good, thanks."

"No, no, that... Err... Actually, this is a preschool parking lot and the houses across the street noticed a potential pedophile in the parking lot. But clearly..." he hesitates. "Um, well, never mind..."

Clearly, if you're a blond female with a perky ponytail and GAP jeans, you're not likely to be profiled as a sexual predator.

Good to know.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Courtney, this made me laugh out loud! You do such a great job setting the scene and telling the story. :) Thanks for the laugh!

blind irish pirate said...

Well, he probably didn't expect Barbie to be driving a stick, either.

This man needs to take some serious diversity and women's studies courses. Surely he's heard about the teacher who has relations with her elementary students...?

;)