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Does this car make me look gay?

By squirrelbait - April 13, 2007

in Object Culture

If you're a dude and you drive a Miata, you must be gay, right? If you're a woman and you drive an Outback, you must be a raging lesbian, correct? Not so fast--here we have the New York Times reporting on one of those subjects you've snickered about with your bff and thought of in your head, but wait a minute...are these rides "Gay by Design, or a Lifestyle Choice?"

Indeed, the extravagant displays of muscle car machismo and sensuous, high-design femininity on display this week at the New York International Auto Show at the Javits Center would seem to cry out for deconstruction along gender- and sexual-identity lines.

But to some people, such stereotyping is homophobia, pure and simple. A poll seeking to determine the most gay automobiles, conducted by a South African Web site, was a topic of heated interest last December on Gizmodo, the New York-based technology blog, where one reader wrote: "Since when are cars gay or straight? We're really polling people's prejudices here."

Others, though, including gay theorists, say many gay motorists happily embrace certain cars as reflections of identity.

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Herbert

18 years ago

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Oh no, I drive a MINI Cooper. But since mine is a MINI Cooper S does that mean I am less gay?

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KCA

18 years ago

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The cars may not be designed specifically for gay consumers (Who knows if the cars themselves are actually gay. It's none of our business where they put their dipsticks behind closed garage doors.), but the advertising certainly is targeting gays. Check out BMW's West Hollywood bus stop ad for the new 3-Series Convertible: "Hard Top. Firm Bottom. It's so L.A."
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Lee Gibson

18 years ago

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OK, then I must be the gayest gay person who has ever been gay. Because I have owned a Miata, and loved the car. Truly, one of the greatest modern sports cars. My current ride is an Outback wagon.

Oh, wait, it's my wife's Outback wagon. No, she's not my beard.

Are cars gay? No. Cars are machines. Do people project their preconceptions and prejudices onto their cars? Sure. Pretty much like people do with absolutely everything under the sun.

It's not an accident that most of the weekend race cars in the SCCA are Miatas. I'm pretty sure that they're not driven exclusively by people of any particular orientation.

I hear they even let WOMEN drive them. With shoes on! Astounding.
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Marty

18 years ago

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Hey personaly, i have a VolksWagen rabbit 1982 with a Audi TT engine, it may look a little fiminine but, i take a corvette on a green light when i feel like it hehe. Plus i never had so mutch dates with woman since i got that little rabbit on the road, tank you VolksWagen ;)

Marty "a futur designer"
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