“Guys love cars. We know that. So we asked a lifelong chronicler of our national automotive obsession … to tell us why this is so – and always will be.”
In my previous post I commented on this statement from Men’s Health, and questioned why so many people love cars, even though cars routinely and mercilessly snuff out our lives. If we were truly logical beings, we’d react to cars like Sarah Connor reacted in Terminator 2 when she encountered Arnie – run like hell!
Another machine that mercilessly snuffs out human lives …
Still puzzled, I decided to actually read the article in Men’s Health and see if it would explain the mystery of why people (well, men at least) love cars, in defiance of all logic or survival instinct.
Here are the reasons why Men’s Health thinks men love cars:
“1. They Make Men of Us”
This is hilarious. So there were no men before 1914? Then how did the human race manage to reproduce for all those centuries with one sex missing?
And just how do cars create men? Presumably not on a slab in a lab, like Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Dr. Frank-N-Furter succeeded in making a man – but can a car make a man?
Nope, according to Men’s Health, the way in which cars makes men has something to do with asserting masculinity through technology, and being able to be in control of one’s “destiny.”
Mmm … I just don’t get the concept of asserting masculinity through technology. But I suspect it means deriving a sense of power from driving at insane speeds in technologically advanced cars. If so, I think that’s ridiculous. I feel powerful when I am able to cycle up a hill using my own muscle power – but any idiot can flex his ankle and use the horsepower of an engine to drive fast. This doesn’t make him masculine or powerful; it just means he knows how to flex his ankle. Big deal. Five-year-old girls in ballet classes can do this, and usually do it better.
As for being in control of one’s destiny … well, how are you in control of your destiny when you’re spending two hours a day stuck in gridlock? And how do you control your destiny when you’re dead after wrecking your car (or after being run down by someone “asserting his masculinity through technology”)?
“2. Our Cars Understand Us”
No they don’t. They don’t have a brain! The Men’s Health argument is that men are emotionally stunted, and so cars are the ideal things for them to be in a relationship with. Well, that’s just plain insulting to half the human race … but if someone, male or female, does happen to be emotionally stunted, but wants a relationship – well, that’s what dogs were invented for. And dogs don’t destroy the planet or kill people.
“3. Our Cars Lure Women”
Having spent some years in my life driving a Mustang convertible, I am here to tell you that cars do not attract women – cars attract men! Never met more men in my life than while I was driving that Mustang.
So if luring men happens to be your aim, all well and good – but the idea that cars attract women is just a lie men made up to justify spending tens of thousands of dollars on a lump of steel. (And for the record – luring men was an unexpected and definitely unwanted side effect of my Mustang.)
And even if cars do lure some women, if a guy has nothing to offer but a car, he might get a date – but he’s unlikely to get much more than that.
“4. Our Cars Give us an Escape Route”
Presumably the author of this article has never driven in Vancouver at rush hour. (Or even at 3 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon.) When cars are moving at walking pace in gridlocked traffic, the only escape route consists in getting out of the car and running away screaming. (Or alternatively, driven over the edge of sanity by yet another traffic jam, to abandon the car and go on a killing spree, like Michael Douglas in Falling Down.)
Cars are just status symbols. They indicate how much a man owns and therefore how important that man is. It’s not more complicated than that in my opinion.
Not all cars do this equally well, but the kind that are ‘loved’ do it very well. For example, it’s difficult to truly love a Ford Focus, but a Ford Mustang is a different story.
That could be most of it, Rob (the status side). But then I often wonder why so many people do own cars like the Ford Focus. In that case, it seems like they see a car as a necessity, and then they go for something pragmatic and affordable.
People own Focus’s, they don’t love them. Love cars are different from practical cars. IMO. I’ve owned many cars (I own a Focus right now), but never loved one.
The distinction between love cars and practical cars makes sense. I have had both. Right now I don’t own any cars, and I am going to try to keep it that way (but keeping in mind that our living environment is designed for car-drivers, with only a tiny % of investment going into transit and bike facilities, there may come a day when that is impossible, or at least unpleasant). Plus right now I am not really carless, because my wife still has her car, and I can use it if I need to, or get a ride. We have an ambition to be carless, but cannot envisage it while we still live in the ‘burbs with a senior parent AND a house full of kids (with various members of the household working and schooling in different suburbs).
But what I am also interested in, besides the love car kind of phenomenon, is how in less than one century, we have pretty much come to accept that human life is symbiotic with cars. Obviously cars would not exist without us – but it is not so obvious that we could not exist without them. In fact, we got along without them before we met them! But now there is this pervasive idea that now we could never possibly get along without them. Even when I try to imagine a world without personal cars, I still imagine that we would need to retain motorized vehicles to transport goods and for emergency services; and probably also for mass transit. And most people cannot even imagine (and don’t want to imagine) a world in which individual people do not routinely transport just themselves in a 5,000 pound car. This is an incredibly inefficient use of resources (especially when contrasted with a superbly efficient form of transport such as the bike), yet most people are convinced that we will continue to do this forever. I am pretty much certain that this century will see the death of such extravagance and such flamboyant environmental destruction, partly because we will run out of the requisite resources, and partly because I think global warming is going to start accelerating alarmingly in a kind of domino fashion, forcing us to rethink … but of course, all that is just IMO, and I may be entirely wrong.
1. The “make men of us” I’ll never understand. Does that mean all those in Europe who don’t own or drive at all aren’t men? What about the growing number of younger people in Canada that are opting to forgo the car in favour of other things?
2. This one I don’t understand. People only ever “talk” to their car when they are having problems with them.
3. This might be different in large cities (Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto), but pretty much anywhere else women expect you (the man) to have a car. When I lived in northern Ontario, pretty well everyone drove and expected you to do so. The nearest town of any significance was 45 km away. The “large city” was 85 km. The results are mixed in cities such as mine. Many support biking to places more, however still expect you to at least have a car.
4. I love when these car manufactures show on their commercials people driving in downtown cores, doing 60 km/h without another sole around. Not even Sunday mornings are as quiet as they make it. Other then gridlock, don’t forget about all the maintenance that cars require. The cost and time it takes.
As for the status symbol. I do believe this is true. I may have said this on another comment but I saw a while ago on CBC Vancouver, asking why more Asians don’t ride in Metro Vancouver. The answer nearly every Asian gave? Class. When you have a car it means your successful.
I wonder how we will ever get around #3? Only when cars become a rarity, I guess. Our culture is so focused around the idea of guys picking up women for dates, IN CARS. It’s reflected in movies, ads and reality. Hard to imagine that moving to biking together, or each taking transit and meeting at the restaurant. Depressing …
It’s a shame that movies have an influence on peoples perception of what we need (ie car to pick up people). Although I believe this is primarily a North American thing.
I’m sure people in Denmark, the Netherlands and so on all watch the same movies but don’t think “I need a car now”. Odds are they went to watch the movie together and both got their on bike or transit.
I still love many movies that revolve around cars, but I don’t automatically think “now I need a car”.
Morenosays
To better understand car-culture, a great book to read is Carjacked by Anne Lutz Fernandez and Catherine Lutz. Just going off memory: cars are a social skin–like our hair, clothing, shoes…they are displays of wealth and status, and expressions of identity. So the Prius driver is an environmentalist, and the Hummer driver is a rich, tough guy…ect. We look for a car that is a reflection of our personality, and an extension of our social being. And never forget, we are deluged by $20 billion dollars worth of car advertising annually, establishing and then perpetuating the ideals of freedom, individuality, luxury, adventure, and exploration all made possible with car ownership. Ironic, that the car is exhorted as the harbinger of freedom (from work and the daily grind), while it is the need to escape from gridlock and congestion that car advertisers are appealing to! The CAR is the solution to the problems caused by cars?! It should also be noted that very few people actually LOVE cars. While they select them based on emotional responses (does anyone really NEED a Hummer?), few are actually die hard fans who subscribe to car magazines, attend auto-shows, or spend hours in the garage cleaning, buffing, or whatever else car-lovers do with their cars…(I wouldn’t know). The issue of “Men Loving Cars” is more a gendered one, where men are encourage to know about and be hands on with cars, while the same is discouraged for women. There is nothing biological. Social constructs dictate that because I’m male, I should: own, use, love, know about, and be able to fix, a car. And while men may drive more, women are quickly catching up as they are responsible for much of the non-work trips, and as we know, those trips make up the majority of total car trips (over 80%). I would love to write a summary piece on car-culture based on Carjacked for your blog, Joe. I hope this is good enough to hold you over until then!
Hey Moreno, I would LOVe to post your summary on car-culture based on Carjacked … I was thinking of writing such a post, but have not finished the book. In any case, it’s always fun to get other people’s views and writing – makes a nice change. So please send it to me when you get it done, and I will definitely post it as a guest post. 🙂
“3. Our Cars Lure Women”
Cars are just status symbols. They indicate how much a man owns and therefore how important that man is. It’s not more complicated than that in my opinion.
Not all cars do this equally well, but the kind that are ‘loved’ do it very well. For example, it’s difficult to truly love a Ford Focus, but a Ford Mustang is a different story.
That could be most of it, Rob (the status side). But then I often wonder why so many people do own cars like the Ford Focus. In that case, it seems like they see a car as a necessity, and then they go for something pragmatic and affordable.
People own Focus’s, they don’t love them. Love cars are different from practical cars. IMO. I’ve owned many cars (I own a Focus right now), but never loved one.
The distinction between love cars and practical cars makes sense. I have had both. Right now I don’t own any cars, and I am going to try to keep it that way (but keeping in mind that our living environment is designed for car-drivers, with only a tiny % of investment going into transit and bike facilities, there may come a day when that is impossible, or at least unpleasant). Plus right now I am not really carless, because my wife still has her car, and I can use it if I need to, or get a ride. We have an ambition to be carless, but cannot envisage it while we still live in the ‘burbs with a senior parent AND a house full of kids (with various members of the household working and schooling in different suburbs).
But what I am also interested in, besides the love car kind of phenomenon, is how in less than one century, we have pretty much come to accept that human life is symbiotic with cars. Obviously cars would not exist without us – but it is not so obvious that we could not exist without them. In fact, we got along without them before we met them! But now there is this pervasive idea that now we could never possibly get along without them. Even when I try to imagine a world without personal cars, I still imagine that we would need to retain motorized vehicles to transport goods and for emergency services; and probably also for mass transit. And most people cannot even imagine (and don’t want to imagine) a world in which individual people do not routinely transport just themselves in a 5,000 pound car. This is an incredibly inefficient use of resources (especially when contrasted with a superbly efficient form of transport such as the bike), yet most people are convinced that we will continue to do this forever. I am pretty much certain that this century will see the death of such extravagance and such flamboyant environmental destruction, partly because we will run out of the requisite resources, and partly because I think global warming is going to start accelerating alarmingly in a kind of domino fashion, forcing us to rethink … but of course, all that is just IMO, and I may be entirely wrong.
Following up – it’s the status that the respective car represents that women (and other men) are attracted to.
It really, really sounds to me like that article was written by an auto industry sales executive…
Mmm, never really thought of that, Sean. But of course, it would make sense.
1. The “make men of us” I’ll never understand. Does that mean all those in Europe who don’t own or drive at all aren’t men?
What about the growing number of younger people in Canada that are opting to forgo the car in favour of other things?
2. This one I don’t understand. People only ever “talk” to their car when they are having problems with them.
3. This might be different in large cities (Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto), but pretty much anywhere else women expect you (the man) to have a car.
When I lived in northern Ontario, pretty well everyone drove and expected you to do so. The nearest town of any significance was 45 km away. The “large city” was 85 km.
The results are mixed in cities such as mine. Many support biking to places more, however still expect you to at least have a car.
4. I love when these car manufactures show on their commercials people driving in downtown cores, doing 60 km/h without another sole around. Not even Sunday mornings are as quiet as they make it.
Other then gridlock, don’t forget about all the maintenance that cars require. The cost and time it takes.
As for the status symbol. I do believe this is true. I may have said this on another comment but I saw a while ago on CBC Vancouver, asking why more Asians don’t ride in Metro Vancouver. The answer nearly every Asian gave? Class. When you have a car it means your successful.
I wonder how we will ever get around #3? Only when cars become a rarity, I guess. Our culture is so focused around the idea of guys picking up women for dates, IN CARS. It’s reflected in movies, ads and reality. Hard to imagine that moving to biking together, or each taking transit and meeting at the restaurant. Depressing …
It’s a shame that movies have an influence on peoples perception of what we need (ie car to pick up people). Although I believe this is primarily a North American thing.
I’m sure people in Denmark, the Netherlands and so on all watch the same movies but don’t think “I need a car now”. Odds are they went to watch the movie together and both got their on bike or transit.
I still love many movies that revolve around cars, but I don’t automatically think “now I need a car”.
To better understand car-culture, a great book to read is Carjacked by Anne Lutz Fernandez and Catherine Lutz.
Just going off memory: cars are a social skin–like our hair, clothing, shoes…they are displays of wealth and status, and expressions of identity. So the Prius driver is an environmentalist, and the Hummer driver is a rich, tough guy…ect. We look for a car that is a reflection of our personality, and an extension of our social being.
And never forget, we are deluged by $20 billion dollars worth of car advertising annually, establishing and then perpetuating the ideals of freedom, individuality, luxury, adventure, and exploration all made possible with car ownership. Ironic, that the car is exhorted as the harbinger of freedom (from work and the daily grind), while it is the need to escape from gridlock and congestion that car advertisers are appealing to! The CAR is the solution to the problems caused by cars?!
It should also be noted that very few people actually LOVE cars. While they select them based on emotional responses (does anyone really NEED a Hummer?), few are actually die hard fans who subscribe to car magazines, attend auto-shows, or spend hours in the garage cleaning, buffing, or whatever else car-lovers do with their cars…(I wouldn’t know). The issue of “Men Loving Cars” is more a gendered one, where men are encourage to know about and be hands on with cars, while the same is discouraged for women. There is nothing biological. Social constructs dictate that because I’m male, I should: own, use, love, know about, and be able to fix, a car. And while men may drive more, women are quickly catching up as they are responsible for much of the non-work trips, and as we know, those trips make up the majority of total car trips (over 80%).
I would love to write a summary piece on car-culture based on Carjacked for your blog, Joe.
I hope this is good enough to hold you over until then!
Hey Moreno, I would LOVe to post your summary on car-culture based on Carjacked … I was thinking of writing such a post, but have not finished the book. In any case, it’s always fun to get other people’s views and writing – makes a nice change. So please send it to me when you get it done, and I will definitely post it as a guest post. 🙂