We’ve not quite felt the intoxicating highs of being trussed up to a bedpost and spanked, but something tells us that doing so wouldn’t inhibit our ability to drive – once we were released from our constrictions. We also don’t identify as trans but we’re pretty sure if we did, we’d be no better or worse at gear-shifts.
And though there’s a lot of theory and interpretation of people’s trans identities, we’re not sure anything about being trans would get in the way of working the butchest four by four to the dinkiest, so-feminine-it-comes-with-a-flower-pot Smart car.
However, in Russia, they’re not letting trans people or people with fetishes get driving licences.
The government’s reason for tightening what the BBC understands are ‘medical controls’ for drivers is because Russia has too many road accidents.
So yes, if you’re a fetishist, an exhibitionist, a voyeur, or a trans person, you have a ‘medical disorder’ and cannot work a car. Which is so baffling we don’t really know what to put here. It’s probably to be expected from a country which banned ‘promoting non-traditional lifestyles’ in 2013, but we’re still a bit stunned.
The Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights said in a no-duh statement that the rules are ‘discriminatory’, and Mikhail Strakhov, a Russian psychiatric expert, said that ‘personality disorders’ is a bit too vague and some of those ‘disorders’ wouldn’t affect someone’s ability to drive. Well, yeah!
READ MORE: Homophobic People Hug Gay Strangers In ‘First Kiss’ Parody
Other people banned from getting a Russian driving licence include compulsive thieves and ‘pathological’ gamblers.
Now this we kinda understand, though if they were allowed to drive, they’d be given a better chance of getting a job, and, hey, perhaps some purpose/money outside of gambling and stealing.
You’ve got to wonder what Russia’s officials are really scared of? Traffic accidents, or people who’re a bit different?
You might also be interested in:
Creepy Cat-Calling And Single Beds: The Reality Of Travelling The World In A Lesbian Couple
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.