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Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

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Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#121

If this form of discrimination is ok, can we get other filters?

what are some example discriminatory filters you want, and what is your reasoning for wanting them?

Low scent preference: no perfume/cologne, car air "freshener", food smell, smoking

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This incident is creepy enough that I would also not agree to a give a random stranger a ride home, absent any additional context or mitigations. Maybe to avoid waking up in an ice bath with my liver gone. But, to not give a ride because of some perceived idea that they would claim you assaulted them or something is a bit "this person should go touch some grass" or whatever.

I've got to ask. Is this kind of violent crime common or perceived as common in the US? If a stranger asked me for a ride home here my first thought wouldn't be that they want to attack me.

Depends on the area. I grew up in a bad neighborhood and everyone was grifting. If you gave a random stranger a ride you would get to take a tour of the roughest places in your city and maybe a "friend" that sees you as a free taxi driver. It was rarely malicious, mostly just people were poor and didn't have access to transportation. But their friends and family can sometimes be pretty dang nasty.

This is called being a "Soft Touch."

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#123
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what are some example discriminatory filters you want, and what is your reasoning for wanting them?

Low scent preference: no perfume/cologne, car air "freshener", food smell, smoking

i dont think preference for no perfume/cologne or no smoking is typically seen as discriminatory from a legal standpoint, is it?

my workplace has a no perfume/cologne policy, and we have lawyers on staff, so itd be interesting to find out it is.

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#124
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be hilarious if women formed their own closed rideshare economy; they'd discover that they demand much higher prices from each other than they get from men.

It would be funny if the market showed women were willing to pay a premium to avoid being raped?

does Uber Comfort not cover this already?

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#125

If this form of discrimination is ok, can we get other filters?

Are you saying it's not acceptable for a woman to choose a female driver over a male driver for a sense of her own safety?

Deep breath in... There are two types of discrimination. Paraphrasing Thomas Sowell, let's call them Type I and Type II.

Type II discrimination is the evil awful kind we rightfully rail against. It is "treating people negatively, based on arbitrary aversions or animosities to individuals of a particular race or sex..."

Type I discrimination is of the broader sort; "an ability to discern differences in the qualities of people and things, choosing accordingly." We run our lives with this kind of discrimination: is this food safe to eat? is this activity safe to participate in? do I trust this person given what I know about them?

>> Ideally, Discrimination I, applied to people, would mean judging each person as an individual, regardless of what group that person is part of. But here, as in other contexts, the ideal is seldom found among human beings in the real world, even among people who espouse that ideal. If you are walking at night down a lonely street, and see up ahead a shadowy figure in an alley, do you judge that person as an individual or do you cross the street and pass on the other side? The shadowy figure in the alley could turn out to be a kindly neighbor, out walking his dog. But, when making such decisions, a mistake on your part could be costly, up to and including costing you your life. [1]

This kind of discrimination is what we're talking about. I'd venture that not only is it OK, it is necessary. In this case, men that have had no background check, and whose form of employment is as an Uber driver are more likely to harass women (or do worse) than a female driver. Allowing women to make a selection based on this likelihood means that female customers that are alone can make choices to still use the service while reducing the overall risk.

Mitigation of this risk in normal taxi services take the form of background checks, bonds, and a chain of responsibility running from employer to employee to customer. It places more risk on the employer deliberately. Uber deliberately chooses to avoid this risk and responsibility. That choice is baked into their business model. That means enabling this kind of discrimination from their customers is a required feature of the service.

[1] Discrimination and Disparities, by Thomas Sowell

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#126
post #109

Sex is a protected class under Title VII of the civil rights act. And the supreme court recently said that even majority classes (men) are protected by this. Since Uber involved in the decision to send more business to female drivers than male drivers, this would seem to me to run afoul of employment discrimination (sorry we don't need as many men workers today, too many of you competing so market forces mean we're g…

Is it illegal to set a filter for a female gynecologist over a male one? Or a male gym trainer over a female one? Or a massage service, hostel, sports team? Is it illegal to set a gender preference on a dating app? Is it illegal to issue a casting call for a female actor or model? This kind of "discrimination" is a part of society, and has been tested in courts plenty of times.

I don't think you need scare quotes, this is discrimination. Discrimination isn't always bad. IANAL but it seems like these are cases where we just kinda ignore some laws, and society usually goes okay despite and in spite of it. Just my uneducated impression.

Could you link to some cases where this kind of thing has been tested? I have an amateur interest in law and this issue is puzzling to me. It's not at all clear to me why it's okay to discriminate against Uber drivers based on the genitals they are born with, but not e.g. their skin color or religion.

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#127
post #67
post #4

Unfortunately necessary. Essentially every girl I know has had at least one bad experience with a creepy uber driver. These are people that are entering their address and often their workplace into the app. It's a big reason why a lot of my friends are picking Waymos instead.

Fully agree and am pretty disappointed reading replies on here. Anyone familiar with the demographics of this forum? What % male is it? If you have women in your life, ask their thoughts on this. It’s easy to not understand problems that don’t exist for us.

Yeah. You sure learn a whole lot of horrible shit about the world in gender-integrated social spaces. (Like how many women start getting unwanted adult male attention when they turn 12.)

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This incident is creepy enough that I would also not agree to a give a random stranger a ride home, absent any additional context or mitigations. Maybe to avoid waking up in an ice bath with my liver gone. But, to not give a ride because of some perceived idea that they would claim you assaulted them or something is a bit "this person should go touch some grass" or whatever.

I've got to ask. Is this kind of violent crime common or perceived as common in the US? If a stranger asked me for a ride home here my first thought wouldn't be that they want to attack me.

Maybe this video[1] helps you understand this better: a lot of Americans live in constant fear. They live in one of the safest countries on Earth, but if you see the discourse around safety there, you would think that USA is a big cartel neighborhood.

Maybe the 24 hours news cycle is responsible for that, I don't know. It's pretty weird, though. And I say that as someone who has lived in unsafe neighborhoods in my native country.

[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=kpgrd6sTGFo

Re: Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they feel safer this way, What if somebody started a Whites-only gym because it made them feel safer?

Are there many assaults on uber passengers because they are white? Are there many assaults on uber passengers because they are women? There is your answer.

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