For more than a century, one of the key possessions of a successful person has been defined as a car. The American dream cannot be complete without it, and neither can the European. The meaning of cars can range from mere means of transportation for a busy employee or the one taking the family out on a picnic to an item of prestige and luxury, confirming the status of its owner.
Following the traditional stereotypes, society ascribes different gender attitudes to cars: as a rule, cars are seen connected with the rougher sex. But as the redistribution of gender roles takes place, women are becoming more and more involved with owning and driving cars, which leads to reconsideration of traditional female and male attitudes towards automobiles. Obviously, nowadays the standard female and male attitudes to cars can be described as connected with the notions of practicality and entertainment correspondingly.
Paradoxically enough, contradicting the widespread idea of women going rather for design than quality of their automobile, facts show that an average female places immense importance on the practical aspect of her car.
According to the research conducted by Forbes, the new-car registration data for United States for September 2009 to late January 2010 testifies that the majority of women go for “practical crossovers like the Kia Sportage and the Honda CR-V” (Elliot 1). Such interest to reliable practical models can be explained to a certain extent by female unwillingness to involve in the complex maintenance procedures which may be more frequent with cars of a less practical and more aesthetic profile.
All the manipulations with oiling, wheeling, and other mechanical maintenance procedures are traditionally viewed as ‘the guys’ things’ and are not typical for a female to perform. Therefore females prefer reliable models which run low risks in terms of technical maintenance.
On the contrary, in their choice of car the males appear to digress from the rationality and practicality traditionally ascribed to them, and to strive for explicitly brawny and powerful models.
The same study has showed that the “list of the top five autos most popular with men is dominated by trucks, from the heavy-duty Ford F-350 to the lightweight Ford Ranger” (Elliot 2). The desire of power is not bolstered with any practical consideration, since the overly powerful vehicles are actually never used to their full capacity.
But the inherent need to physically dominate provokes men to acquire most powerful cars even if there is no need for that force in practical conditions. Maintaining the image of a ‘tough guy’, a male simply needs to know that his automobile in capable of almost incredible towing loads.
This instinctive desire of power explains why Camaro — 426 horsepower in the SS version — is the most popular non-truck among male buyers (Elliot 2). As remarked by Aaron Gold, a Los Angeles-based automotive journalist, “A guy will say, ‘Let me get this BMW because it’s really fast and will make people think my penis is bigger. […] A guy will say ‘I can do zero to 60 in six seconds!’ Well when was the last time you went from 0 to 60 in six seconds?!” (as cited in Elliot 2).
This illustrates the male mode of thinking and the male attitude to cars as a means of stating, expressing and promoting their masculinity, as well as establishing their social dominance by inherent automobile power which is hardly applied in practice.
The aforementioned difference in female and male perception of car as a practical or an entertaining item reflects the corresponding interpretations of car functions. By large, women tend to perceive cars as purely utilitarian, functional devices. The qualities women seek in car first and foremost are comfort, safety, and relative inexpensiveness.
Comfort in female perception is not connected with luxury and splendor but is a sign of the car’s reliability. Connected to it is safety, which guarantees both physical and emotional comfort. A demonstrative example for the female demand for comfort and safety is the presence of such safety measure as child lock system.
The latter is needed since women perceive cars as a means of transportation for not only individuals but also their families, in particular, children. Women are not prone to spending huge amounts of finance on car maintenance; therefore they opt for reasonably-priced models, spending their money on fashionable clothes or designer interior instead.
On the contrary, men perceive cars as an important detail of their image and the sign of their social success and prestige. Instigated by the need to possess a vehicle representative of their achievements, men choose large upmarket models that inspire respect from the others. In this desire to secure a high social status, men do not care how large sums they spend on maintenance of their giant and are ready to invest almost unlimitedly in the token of their prestige.
As a designer bag or tasty interior are important to women, so is a luxury car significant and revealing of male success and ability to lead and dominate. Therefore, men spare no finance to achieve and maintain their status by such a means of demonstrating their accomplishment as their personal car.
The image of the car as perceived by women is therefore that of a ‘working horse’. The most widespread application of cars by women are taking children to kindergarten or school, doing the shopping or taking the family out for a picnic.
The task of getting the woman to work is almost lost in those family-related activities and does not presuppose showing off a new luxury model in front of the colleagues. Exceptions can be made for higher-level business ladies, but their perceptions are by large influenced by the stereotypes typical for male-dominated world, therefore they cannot be taken into account for discussion of purely female attitudes to cars.
Opposed to women’s utilitarian perception of car as a means of transportation for meeting everyday needs, men possess a much more personalized view of their vehicles. It is not infrequent that men feminize their cars and call them “my babe”, which reflects a high level of intimacy between a man and his car. A Craze for Cars article reflects the typical kind of indestructible bond that establishes between men and their cars: “He knows your likes and dislikes.
He knows your strengths and weaknesses. You told him the things you can never share with your best friends also” (Tereza n.p.). Men tend to view cars as their partners and friends, and often invest not only money but also emotional energy in them. Moreover, contrary to female perception of cars, men tend to see them as ways of entertainment and thus undertake ‘fun drives’ simply to feel the power of the engine growling in the heart of their four-wheeled monster.
Attitudes to cars reflect typical perceptional differences of the two sexes. While women interpret cars as practical, utilitarian objects that are created for work, men tend to see their automobiles as powerful expression of their masculinity and social prestige, and therefore often undertake a personal approach to the four-wheeled friend. It should be remarked, however, that with the gender roles changing throughout the time, typical male and female attitudes to cars tend to merge, acquiring a more unified character for both genders.
Works Cited
Elliot, Hannah. “Most Popular Cars for Men and Women.” Forbes.com. Forbes Magazine, 2010. Web.
Thereza. “Attitude of Men and Cars.” Craze for Cars.com. Craze for Cars. 2009. Web.