Am I the only female who can't read a map??

Answer 1

no ask my wife she have a BS degree and still can't read a road map lol

Answer 2

It isn't your gender.

There's a chance you could have a visual perceptual problem, but it is more likely you've either only tried to read maps in a moving car or else you're imagining them to be a bigger deal than they are for some reason. Schools usually teach map-reading to kids in third or fourth grade, but even if you never learned in school it isn't a big deal to be able to follow/read a map.

When I was young I had a boring job, so I'd design maps of my state and area cities to kill time. Try starting with your own street and draw a map of the surrounding areas you know. You know which streets come out on which streets. Use a pencil, and if you make one street to long erase the line and make it correct.

If there are towns/cities you know pretty well make a map of them. Add what you know. Don't worry about what you don't know. Doing a few of these simple maps should give you a feel for what's going on in a map.

As you know, maps have legends on them that tell you how many inches equals how many miles. Major highways usually show up in red. Other than those two pieces of information you can probably skip any other information the legends offer unless you see something on the map that makes you have a question, in which case the legend could clear it up.

Go to a site like Mapquest or Mapsonus and get a map for your area. Those sites let you zoom in and out and go west, east, etc. Play with a map of an area you know, zoom out and look at it in context with surrounding areas, etc.

Get a paper copy of some map. (My grocery stores sells them for 39 cents). Look at everything on it when you have nothing to do some time and when you're not worried about finding something in a hurry. Just browse. Its best if its a map of an area you know, so when you see a park or a pond you'll know exactly what you're looking at.

Somewhere along the way in your life (unless you actually have a visual perceptual learning disability) you have become convinced by someone, yourself or the world that women cannot read maps (and that women/girls are called, "females").

You may think, "Hey. I've lived my life not reading maps this long, and I've managed," but this isn't about whether you'll die if you don't read maps (although there are rare, extreme, situations in which reading a map could save someone's life). Showing yourself that you are entirely capable of reading a map will show you that your own gender doesn't lack this type of thinking ability (and if someone has a "legitimate learning problem" is has nothing to do with gender).

If you decide to - once and for all - see how reading a map isn't a big deal and doesn't take special ability after you do that think of some other things you believe your gender has trouble doing and unless its lifting heavy stuff find a way to show yourself you are not correct about those other things either.

Some women like to believe they can't do some things. Others like to pretend they can't do some things. Others have been raised to believe they can't do some things. Others have been beaten down to believe they can't do some things.

Life and confidence in your own abilities are so much better if you realize there isn't much you can't do - better for you and better for any daughters, nieces, or other young girls in your life who may see you as an example.

Answer 3

Believe it or not, your ability to read a map can be genetic. It requires a certain kind of wiring in the brain, and not everyone has it. It is, I think, equally common in males and females. Sense of direction is similar. If you have tried to learn, and just don't get it, there is no need to apologize or feel bad, anymore than you would apologize for the colour of your eyes. It's just one of the things that make you - you. On a practical note, it's a good idea to choose a partner that can read a map, or you'll spend a lot of your time together being lost!

Answer 4

No many women can't read maps. I can read a map and know some women who can. The thing is women don't really need to know how to read a map because we can do something that men can't do which is ASK DIRECTIONS. See if men could do that they wouldn't bother learning to read maps either.

Answer 5

HAHA. My girlfriend can't read a map either! She can't figure it out when we take a turn because she says we're upside down on the map and she has to turn it too.

Answer 6

According to my husband I would get lost trying to find the garage if he were not around to show me.. and no I can't read a map either.

Answer 7

I remember reading someting about this several years ago.

There is a psychological reason. It has something to do with the difference in perception and visualization between men and women

Answer 8

It takes me a whlie to read a map. That something I never tell anyone in case they might mock me.

Answer 9

no, there are lots but it is a big handicap on your life and makes you somewhat helpless and vulnerable and defenseless in
managing your own life. learn to do it. it will serve you well.

Answer 10

I can read one. What's so hard? You find the road you're on, and follow it to where you're going.