A lady shock jock has an unpopular opinion about literally anything? Color me not surprised.
Terrestrial radio stations are falling by the wayside and in order to stay relevant in a digital world, being the most shocking of jocks seems to be part of the strategy. As per Australian Radio show hosts Mike E and Emma earlier yesterday (Nov. 13, 2018) the lady half of the duo thinks that car guys are one-dimensional, full of themselves, and have no other lives then beyond what they drive. Emma is particularly pissed off about car guys on Instagram who all they post are pictures of them and their car including car related activities. Ironically, her hating car guys will only make us love our cars even more, but I’ll get into that later on in my rebuttal. While some car guys literally make a living from customizing, racing, and working on cars on all levels of motorsport and customization, the vast majority of car guys are enthusiasts.
First, the term car guy is a bit outdated and dare I say, sexist. The term car enthusiast is more inclusive in this day and age as more women enter and thrive in a domain once typically dominated by men. Look at any level of motorsport and you’ll see a budding group of women, from management, wrenching, and racing enjoying cars as much as any car enthusiast would. And guess what their Instagram is filled with? Yup, cars.
Although it’s true that more women are getting into cars, it’s still vastly dominated by men thanks to gender roles passed down from generation to generation. Hate it or not, cars, stats, the terminology used and the shared passion of cars is a universal language that, yes women can appreciate, but is something that most men can relate to on some level. It’s this “language” and shared experience we use to, for the lack of a better term, bond with other men. This sphere of understanding now extends to social media. For the first time, a new generation of women are seeing just how obsessed men can be about something, enough to share that on digital platforms.
Then there’s the universal reason that men love cars of all different makes and models. Although the technology is changing, by and large, cars remain the same, a measurement of human achievement with the quickest, strongest, and most capable ones celebrated. Cars represent freedom to move, something that we don’t take for granted. And more importantly, and probably the biggest reason guys like cars is because it is something that we can understand.
Cars was the reason that I enjoyed three wonderful months in Southern California during my internship at Magnaflow and is where I experienced the forum SoCalCivic.com to the fullest, meeting new people, going on canyon cruises, and attending weekly car meets where we all broke bread at different restaurants. This was all before social media, mind you.
Guess the number one thing car guys love but don’t understand? Women! Although there are a few gifted guys out there that no the “secret sauce” to women and why they do what they do, if there’s one thing guys can understand, it’s cars and also sports. There are rules to cars (and sports) that with enough variety that contributes to the spice of life, we find comfort in this arena. Just as women find comfort and creativity with makeup, clothes, and weeknight group painting sessions, so do guys with cars.
I’m not pretending I know all the reasons guys like cars nor do I represent all car guys and probably have missed some major points here where, if you’d like, you can fill me in on in the comment below but I do know this “rant” is nothing more than someone’s shallow opinion.
Source: The Edge 96.1
