Women are frequently told that cars are for dudes, starting with pre-K Hot Wheels advertising targeted to adorable little boys, and continuing on through car commercials with bodacious babes aimed squarely at grown men. Even our beloved NPR focuses squarely on testosterone-driven chatter in Car Talk. So a recent article The Globe and Mail about women want in cars is getting lots of buzz, simply because you so rarely hear this angle covered.
Obviously, the whole "boys like cars, girls like frilly dresses" notion is ridonculous, if for no other reason than women, you know, drive cars. And they ain't just driving them; turns out that women make more auto purchases and purchasing decisions than guys. (Rev that engine!)
Yet our culture persists in perpetuating this inane stereotype, and with fist-shaking results. Consider the following:
Women are more likely to be ripped off by mechanics and car dealers
According to research published last year, mechanics are more likely to overcharge hapless women than hapless men.
It seems to us that shops assume that a man, on average, is more likely to figure out if it’s a fair price than a woman. The general stereotype is that men know more about cars than women do. — Researcher Meghan R. Busse.
There's also some evidence that women get higher price quotes for cars than men, again because of the presumption that women are automotive bimbos.
Auto features geared toward women are often sexist and dumb
Volvo recently came under fire for designing female-focused features such as rounded bumpers (because women suck as drivers, presumably) and the lack of a bonnet to access the engine (because, um, women don't want to get their manicured nails dirty by engaging in engine fixes?) The Globe and Mail article's inclusion of a car vacuum as a "female-friendly feature" also supports the tried-and-true stereotype that women love to make like Cinderella and clean all their cares away.
While we're at it, it's kind of annoying and sexist toward women and men to claim practical features such as blind-spot monitoring and beefed-up safety features, also included in The Globe and Mail piece, are women-specific. Because guys are totally cool with shoddy safety features in a car?
Bottom line: If you're going to be stereotypical, at least be hilarious about it. And ladies, make sure to check out this car porn site. Because yes, we can get hot and bothered by the vroom vroom, too.
Image: commons.wikimedia.org
