As if I didn't have enough problems, now comes this:
Gender benders: Crossing stereotypical lines when it comes to vehicles / LJWorld.com
Here are the "highlights":
Even if consumers are more concerned with comfort and economy, they still may feel the sting of buying a car that doesn’t quite fit their image. Just ask 2009 Kansas University graduate Andrew Neubauer, who owns a Honda Fit.
There’s nothing especially feminine about the Honda Fit. It’s short, small and sleek. However, according to Road and Travel magazine, over 80 percent of Fit drivers are female. This fact, combined with the car’s appearance, bothered Neubauer when he bought the car.
“At first it was fairly emasculating,” he says. “It’s like someone took the ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ laser and pointed it at a mini-van.”
Even Neubauer’s roommates would give him a hard time about the vehicle. The more he drove it, though, the more confidence he found.
“It’s still a little embarrassing when you’re trying to take a girl out,” he says. “But, it cost 12 grand, its gets 30 to 32 miles to the gallon and it gets me from point A to point B.”
Neubauer says he hope his story can inspire other men to take pride in their vehicles, no matter what they drive.
“There was this one time I was in Overland Park and a guy in the exact same car pulled up next to me,” Neubauer says. “He looked over and gave me the solidarity fist, and I said, ‘Yes! We both are guys driving sissy cars!’”
If only I had known.
Cheers.