'NYT' Headline of the Week: 'Is Your Car Gay?'

Editor&Publisher: 'NYT' Headline of the Week: 'Is Your Car Gay?'
By E&P Staff
Published: April 12, 2007

NEW YORK As if we didn't have enough to worry about, The New York Times today in a Styles articles made everyone aware that our sexual orientation is being judged, or decided, on the type of car we drive.

Who knew that piloting a Mazda Miata convertible suggests that you are gay? Two men in a Mini Cooper --"a gay cliche." Or that lesbians give themselves away by driving Subaru Outback station wagons?

It's all true, as reporter Alex Williams makes clear. While asserting that, of course, no car is inherently "straight or gay," Williams notes (and feeds) the perception that cars can "be statements" about sexual orientation.

Someone named Ramone Johnson even compiles an annual "Top 10 Gay Cars" lists for about.com. What makes for a gay man's car? "Soft lines" and a "vibrant personality." A professor, Judith Halberstam, says she drives a black Mazda3 hatchback which she considers "butch."...

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003570965

LINK TO NYT ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/fashion/12cars.html?8dpc
(NOTE: It appears the NYT has changed the headline.)

Seriously it's shit.

I think most people choose vehicles according to their income, their family structure, the terrain where they live, their climate, their recreational habits, and what kind of vehicle is available for them to choose.

edit double phrase

you buy what makes sense for you.

If you want to make a statement with your car, buy something from the 60's or 70's, and tool around on the weekend.

I haven't been able to distinguish car models from one another for 15 years, because they're all just transportation boxes now. And it's not like you can even work on them. I'm 34 years old, and was in the last few auto-shop classes offered at my high school. I love old cars. Those are machines you can appreciate for more than just practical reasons.

To hear some guy in a plastic truck go on about his manly vehicle when he can't even change a goddamn spark plug for himself is just sad.

influenced by the marketing and the SUV designers who purposely chose to feed our reptilian instincts. That is a known fact. Psychologists with deep knowledge of how to manipulate consumers when it comes to the car design and then the advertising have a large role in auto industry.

Many DU'ers will object to this, but the fact remains, most Americans (including us) THINK we choose cars with an independent criteria but are influenced subconsciously by car design (how it appears) and then the marketing.

And frankly, I think it's quite possible that psychologists working for car designers do, in fact, have information about what style cues appeal to gays/lesbians and purposely use them in the car manufacture and resultant marketing.

I bought my Subaru to drive in the mountains where I live, plus they are so dependable, but I'd really rather drive a Mustang.

(And I really don't think I'm the exception. :) )

Are these cars heavily advertised in gay publications?

Hell, when my car refuses to run, or acts shitty, I wonder if it's Republican!!!!

What a .... goofy, I guess...article.

Guess it's easier to talk about gay cars than give the newspaper column inches to coverage of the Iraq War, eh?

is driving an outback... I didn't know guys could also be Lesbian...:rofl:

And ya know? I never thought to ask my car what my sexual orientation should be! LOL

And are TRAPPED in those pesky male bodies!!!

It is pretty silly, that article!

:rofl:

I may not be lesbian, but hey, if driving a Subaru will give me the tennis game of Martina-- that's good enough for me!

ignorance overload

I wanna be paid for having too much time on my hands

i'm the original.

... a person's sexual orientation based on a car.

I've known a few people with Mazda Miatas. None of them were gay. It is just based on the classic English sportscar. Not very big or heavy, so it doesn't need a very large engine. If that appeals to you, I don't think it has anything to do with wheather you are gay or not. It's not even that "metrosexual" a car, really. Maybe things have changed in the last decade... I once heard the Magliozzi brothers on their NPR show refer to it as a "chick car", so who knows...?).

One thing that does seem to hold true... VW New Beetles and PT Cruisers are only driven by women. I have yet to see a man driving one, with one exception; one of my brothers friends had a VW New Beetle, but he sold it for a Rabbit. Maybe because they are really not all that practical a car, but they look cute or stylish. That's my theory.

to busy worrying about your small genitals...

Especially the freaks in the canary yellow ones OMFG :hi:

those are the worst IMO... Yuck...

See the pattern?

The NYT continues to dutifully re-write Corporate America's press releases and then pass them off as "news".

Sorry Detroit, calling European and Japanese cars "gay" through your parrot at the NYT isn't going to help sell your big stupid cars.

I don't care what anyone says!

(not that there is anything wrong with it) :-)

Mine may scream "neglected" (in terms of maintenance, on occasion) or "frugal"(i.e., cheapskate, you ever going to retire me?!), but that seems to be it!

Geez, you'd think that the Times could come up with some more worthwhile stories!

and "change my oil"

and maybe to those who look only at surfaces "soccer mom" (but I have no kids!)

small white station wagon...

gay cars, bah.

When I came back out of the store, my car moved itself next to a mustang...very close to the mustang.

Seemed awfully sluggish when I put him in first gear too.

I'm gay. Am I deluding myself that I'm gay?

Does that make me a sexual mutant?

Please don't answer that.

vibrators?!








Kidding, just kidding! lLOL

Damnit

;)

since 1994


Middle East Rally Championship 2004


100 treacherous miles of mountain roads within the Angeles
National Forest outside of Los Angeles

This isn't Nascar but a real race.

except (fortunately for me) it can take a beating?

The world rally is the toughest race in the world, on real roads, on real terrain
and in real weather conditions of snow, ice, rain, or desert.

My forester, which I bought in Colorado, is ideal for mountain conditions
you and I have encountered. It is just a means of transportation.


Misogynist and homophobic NY times article should be called out for what it is

Good Lord, some people worry about the silliest things!

What kind of guy buys a Prius vs. what kind of guy buys a Cadillac.

C'mon, we have admit there's a little bit of truth in this article. I've met a lot of great left-leaning Saab and Subaru owners. But I'm always careful what I say around Ford pickup truck owners.

these small cars are viewed as less that manly by men who have a deep-seated fear that their dicks are too small.

As for myself, the only car I've ever bought for asthetic value is my '69 VW Bug, which I still have parked in my garage. Ok, and an old 64 Nova, which I loved until I sold it. Any car made after 1980 is an anonymous plastic box with wheels anyway, so who gives a shit? I just buy the one that makes the most sense economically.

:rofl:

How ridiculous! Honest Officer, I wasn't weaving, my car is gay!

-Hoot

and marketing angles work on gay/lesbian consumers.

I've no idea if that comes into play in the article here. But it's very possible there are design cues and ads used specifically to appeal to that segment of our population.

Cars are targeted at age range, economic status, and gender. To subdivide that further with sexual orientation would not be cost-effective.

and the wheel wells were made to resemble clenched fists. Both made to appeal to the reptilian in all of us and specifically to those consumers who respond to that sort of thing. And auto makers have people whose job it is to know who responds to what.

White males over 40 are a good target group to design for- they have the money.

Gay couples may also be a good target group (double income, no kids)?.

So maybe there are certain design elements that appeal to X population. Or not. But it's very likely, IMO.

This is a whole science and the auto industry has it very well developed.

Drunken, suburban soccer mom?

on the new car lot, or is it a lifestyle choice they make after purchase?

;-)

y'know, kind of like Ziebart reustproofing :P

Honestly, can this be any more ridiculous? :hi:

*rimshot*

Damn! I own a Prius and I forgot to change my sex!

What will the neighbors say? :P