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"'Chick Cars' Don't, in Fact, Castrate Men."

That's Mother Jones objecting to some press release purporting to identify the top 10 "chick cars" that men should never drive. MJ sayeth:

I suppose it?s not that surprising that the idea of a gendered car exists or that certain members of the doucheoisie wouldn?t be caught dead in a Mini Cooper. After all, driving is fraught with gender stereotypes and assumptions....

[I]sn?t it time we shifted male virility away from large, gas-guzzling automobiles, especially in light of the recent, horribly costly, and damaging oil spill in the Gulf? Maybe the sexes will never agree on who?s the better driver; but can?t we at least, for the sake of humanity, retire the phrase ?chick cars? and the embarrassing PR it inspires?

I don't see anything wrong with thinking about the masculinity and femininity of the inanimate objects you associate yourself with. I can decide to wear a frilly dress or a mannish pantsuit or to paint my living room a girlie pink color or a manly dark gray. So what's wrong with shopping for a car and thinking about whether I want a chicky Mini or a tomboyish pickup truck?

Ah, I see. The real problem isn't the gendered object. It's the way men avoid feminine things.

Full post as published by Althouse on June 04, 2010 (boomark / email).