What the Gate Is Actually Closing On

Middle-aged women are not becoming irrationally angry. We are becoming less compliant.

Last Sunday afternoon, I found myself 30 minutes into circling the narrow lanes of a state park jammed with rowing teams from around the Pacific Northwest.

A man and his wife walked to their car in front of me. After many false positives, this couple was finally pulling out. The car was on, the reverse lights too, but the man stayed put for a minute, then another. I stopped and waited, knowing if I circled another 20 minutes, I’d miss my son’s race.

The man rolled down his window and said he wanted to go the direction I was blocking in order to get out.

I said, perhaps you can go the other way, and then I could park (and these other cars can get by). He unceremoniously declined.

Within minutes, tailgaters next to him and a woman in her car behind me were involved. Each time someone new explained what the man in his car wanted, I politely responded: I understand what he wants. The woman from the car behind me walked up to my window, and I asked her why it was that we assumed that the corre…