That's not a metaphor for romantic submission. I'm literally talking about driving.
The blog post cites data concluding that in relationships, men dominate the wheel. The writer attributes the tendency to a variety of possible factors:
Why do men dominate the wheel? In the past, physical factors were important. My grandmother learned to drive only after the introduction of automatic transmission and power steering, which made the task much less physically demanding. But driving today’s cars requires little strength. In addition, our roads are engineered to be quite forgiving, for example with very long reaction times permitted by the system.
What else might be responsible? Cultural factors? Social ones? Psychological differences? Logistics? Animal instinct? Historical inertia?
Furthermore, is this state of affairs due to men’s preferences, women’s, or both?
And should we care?
I love driving. But when I'm dating someone, I usually only take the wheel when I'm the designated driver after a party.
Sure, when I think about it, the setup is a little weird. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, though. Nothing beats having control of the radio.
Weigh in: In your relationship, who's usually behind the wheel?
