Can nice girls win (races)? | Julia Landauer | TEDxStanford
-
0:11 - 0:15The most common question I've gotten
since I started racing go-karts is -
0:15 - 0:19what's it like to be
a woman race car driver? -
0:19 - 0:20Specifically now, maybe,
-
0:20 - 0:23what on earth is a New York-raised,
Stanford-educated female -
0:23 - 0:25doing behind the wheel of a race car?
-
0:25 - 0:26(Laughter)
-
0:26 - 0:29But the reality is, why not?
-
0:29 - 0:32Racing is one of the most unique sports,
-
0:32 - 0:36because biology doesn't prevent
men and women from competing together. -
0:36 - 0:38It is a sport, so I'm going
to have you do me a favor -
0:38 - 0:40and put your hands like you are driving
-
0:40 - 0:42without hitting the person
in front of you. -
0:42 - 0:43Awesome.
-
0:43 - 0:46Close your eyes,
and you're starting to turn left, -
0:46 - 0:50and you're muscling
around 3,400 pounds of machine. -
0:50 - 0:53You straighten up and you're getting
within an inch of the wall. -
0:53 - 0:55It's 130 degrees [Fahrenheit] in the car,
-
0:55 - 0:58and you're fully suited up with a helmet
that weighs a pound or two, -
0:58 - 1:00and you're doing this for hours.
-
1:00 - 1:02Open your eyes.
-
1:02 - 1:03It's tough.
-
1:03 - 1:05(Laughter)
-
1:05 - 1:09But because biology doesn't prevent
men and women from competing together, -
1:09 - 1:11there's got to be something else.
-
1:11 - 1:16And I firmly believe that social
and cultural norms and stereotypes -
1:16 - 1:18are preventing women
from getting involved. -
1:18 - 1:22Because what is the one thing that girls
are always told they have to be? -
1:22 - 1:24Nice.
-
1:24 - 1:28But I'm going to tell you:
niceness loses races. -
1:28 - 1:33Racing is an exceptionally difficult sport
and not everyone can do it. -
1:33 - 1:37So as a woman, we have to not only
prove ourselves on the race track -
1:37 - 1:43but fight through these stupid stereotypes
that just hold us back. -
1:43 - 1:45And there are three main stereotypes
-
1:45 - 1:48that I think I have discovered
while I've been racing, -
1:48 - 1:50that I'm familiar with in racing
-
1:50 - 1:53but I'm sure that they apply
to many other fields. -
1:53 - 1:56The first is that women aren't aggressive,
-
1:56 - 2:00and girls are told early on
that being aggressive is a bad thing. -
2:00 - 2:03This photo was taken
when I was 14 years old. -
2:03 - 2:05It was the first national
go-kart race of the year, -
2:05 - 2:07and we were in Daytona Beach, Florida.
-
2:07 - 2:10I was really excited, I had done
very well in practice, -
2:10 - 2:13we were up in the top 3,
top 5, out of 40, -
2:13 - 2:16and I was just ready to go win.
-
2:16 - 2:17Race day comes,
-
2:17 - 2:21and I stayed about the same
while everyone else got a lot better -
2:21 - 2:22- all my male counterparts -
-
2:22 - 2:26and this was frustrating and it had
happened at several races before this. -
2:26 - 2:29So the morning of the next race day,
-
2:29 - 2:32my dad walks into my hotel room,
a little bit early, -
2:32 - 2:36comes up to my bed
and says, "Julia, get up." -
2:36 - 2:41Looks at me and says,
"You need to rip their livers out!" -
2:41 - 2:43(Laughter)
-
2:43 - 2:45"These boys just got beat
by a girl the other day, -
2:45 - 2:49they're not going to sleep,
their parents won't let them, -
2:49 - 2:52and you need to be just as angry."
-
2:52 - 2:53In retrospect
-
2:53 - 2:55(Laughter)
-
2:55 - 2:59I realize that my dad was
essentially giving me permission -
2:59 - 3:02to break free of how I was
being told to behave, -
3:02 - 3:04and go destroy everyone on the racetrack.
-
3:04 - 3:06(Laughter)
-
3:06 - 3:08And it was great, and it was scary.
-
3:08 - 3:11And I'm sure it was scary
for him and my mom to support me, -
3:11 - 3:15completely breaking against every
social norm and appropriate behavior. -
3:15 - 3:16(Laughter)
-
3:16 - 3:19The second assumption
that I had to learn about, -
3:19 - 3:23was that it's acceptable
to take the victim role. -
3:23 - 3:24And not only that,
-
3:24 - 3:29but I feel like it's very expected
for women to take the victim role. -
3:29 - 3:33This photo was taken when I was
11 years old at our local go-kart track. -
3:33 - 3:36And it was just one race day,
and I had gone out, -
3:36 - 3:38and, again, done very well
in our time trials. -
3:38 - 3:42I was starting 3rd or 4th,
but I went to my parents and told them, -
3:42 - 3:47"OK, I'd like you to change X, Y, and Z
on the go-kart to make it better." -
3:47 - 3:50I [went] out to race and the kart
was not doing what I wanted, -
3:50 - 3:52and I was getting
more and more frustrated. -
3:52 - 3:56One kart after the other were going by me,
and then I was just losing it. -
3:56 - 3:59I finished somewhere at the back,
and I get off the race track, -
3:59 - 4:04and was the most pissed off 11-year-old
that you will ever see. -
4:04 - 4:06I pushed my go-kart up to this pit,
-
4:06 - 4:10and dropped all my stuff off,
and ran up to my parents, and said: -
4:10 - 4:13"You messed up the go-kart,
it would have been so much better -
4:13 - 4:16if you'd done this and this,
and I could've won." -
4:16 - 4:20And then my dad looked at me,
and I realized I had messed up. -
4:20 - 4:23And he walked up to me
and he said, "F*** you!" -
4:23 - 4:25(Laughter)
-
4:29 - 4:32"You told me to make that change
to the go-kart, and I did. -
4:32 - 4:34And if it isn't what you wanted, too bad.
-
4:34 - 4:37It is you and the go-kart on that track,
-
4:37 - 4:39and it's your responsibility
to make it work." -
4:39 - 4:40(Laughter)
-
4:40 - 4:41Sorry about that.
-
4:41 - 4:43(Laughter)
-
4:45 - 4:46And he was right.
-
4:46 - 4:49You know, it might not have been
an ideal situation, -
4:49 - 4:52and it might've been completely his fault,
-
4:52 - 4:55but the fact is that I had
to take my situation, own it, -
4:55 - 4:58make it mine, and make the best of it.
-
4:59 - 5:02The third assumption about women
-
5:02 - 5:06that I find most personally offensive,
-
5:07 - 5:09is that women are fragile.
-
5:09 - 5:14Women are routinely portrayed
as emotionally and physically fragile. -
5:15 - 5:18And the thing is we're not.
-
5:18 - 5:19I have some three--
-
5:19 - 5:21(Laughter)
-
5:22 - 5:27I have some 300 pounds of go-kart
on my neck, and I'm fine, right? -
5:27 - 5:29I'm standing up today.
-
5:29 - 5:32And this is problematic.
-
5:33 - 5:37I have told you stories
that I learned in go-karts early on, -
5:37 - 5:39but I am still facing and fighting
these assumptions -
5:39 - 5:42as I've moved into race cars.
-
5:42 - 5:45Last spring I was racing
in Sacramento and Stockton area, -
5:45 - 5:50and I had brought my resume and all
my wins and championships to this team. -
5:50 - 5:52I was super-excited;
I thought they were super-excited. -
5:52 - 5:56A couple races in, I had won once,
and we were doing well, -
5:56 - 5:59and one of the guys in the team
who was helping me out, -
5:59 - 6:01takes me aside and says, "Jules, you know,
-
6:01 - 6:05when I heard that we were to have
a girl on the team, I was just bummed. -
6:05 - 6:08I thought we were going to be racing
at the back all season, but we're not." -
6:08 - 6:11And I realized that he was trying
to compliment me, -
6:11 - 6:15but at the same time, my team
-this was supposed to be my backbone- -
6:15 - 6:17had very little faith in me,
-
6:17 - 6:22and didn't expect me to be racing
on the edge and at the limit. -
6:22 - 6:25There is a study where
researchers asked mothers -
6:25 - 6:27to set the steepness of a ramp
-
6:27 - 6:29for how they thought
their toddler could climb up. -
6:29 - 6:33Mothers routinely set the ramp
steeper for their boys -
6:33 - 6:35than they did for their girls.
-
6:35 - 6:40So from toddlerhood we are priming
our daughters not to take risks, -
6:40 - 6:43not to push themselves, not to fall down,
-
6:43 - 6:46and not to learn
how to pick themselves back up. -
6:46 - 6:50And this directly affects
how people interact with them, -
6:50 - 6:53as I learned as a professional
racer with my team. -
6:55 - 6:59So because being a woman
that society tells me to be -
6:59 - 7:01and being a race care driver
that I really want to be -
7:01 - 7:03are at odds with each other,
-
7:03 - 7:06we have to break the rules.
-
7:06 - 7:09And racing is not
particularly scary for me. -
7:09 - 7:13Going over 130 mph, getting
within a couple inches of the wall, -
7:13 - 7:16racing side by side
with someone, and crashing, -
7:16 - 7:19although unpleasant, is not very scary.
-
7:19 - 7:22Breaking centuries
of negative perceptions of women -
7:22 - 7:26is a little daunting, but very important.
-
7:27 - 7:33So back to the original question of what's
it like to be a woman race car driver? -
7:33 - 7:34It's awesome.
-
7:34 - 7:35(Laughter)
-
7:35 - 7:37It is fabulous.
-
7:37 - 7:40Being in the zone is so cool.
-
7:40 - 7:43It's me operating with the car,
operating with the race track -
7:43 - 7:44on a subconscious level.
-
7:44 - 7:47Nothing in the outside world matters.
-
7:47 - 7:50Someone told me a couple of years ago
that when you master a corner, -
7:50 - 7:53and get within a couple
centimeters of the wall, -
7:53 - 7:55it's better than sex.
-
7:55 - 7:57(Laughter)
-
7:59 - 8:04And it so satisfying to do
something exceptionally well -
8:04 - 8:07that people don't expect me
to be able to do at all. -
8:07 - 8:10And I think that my situation
as a female racer, -
8:10 - 8:13and I'm sure in many
of your situations out there, -
8:13 - 8:17is summed up nicely in a quote
that I read from Erada: -
8:17 - 8:21"If it is both terrifying and amazing,
you should definitely pursue it." -
8:21 - 8:22Thank you.
-
8:22 - 8:24(Applause)
- Title:
- Can nice girls win (races)? | Julia Landauer | TEDxStanford
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Julia Landauer is a championship-winning professional race car driver from New York City and a senior at Stanford University, majoring in science, technology and society. Here she talks about her life racing first go-karts and then race cars, and how girls are brought up disadvantaged towards competition.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 08:30
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Denise RQ edited English subtitles for Can nice girls win (races)? | Julia Landauer | TEDxStanford | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for Can nice girls win (races)? | Julia Landauer | TEDxStanford | ||
Denise RQ edited English subtitles for Can nice girls win (races)? | Julia Landauer | TEDxStanford |