Interesting article on SUV buying, and the motivation's of

[DiverDave]

men who purchase them:

Snip:

Loser: According to a study at Cornell University, men whose masculinity has been questioned are more likely to oppose gay marriage, support the war in Iraq, and buy SUVs. The research was conducted on 111 undergraduates, and the findings were presented to the American Sociological Association last August.

"I gave subjects a car-buying vignette," said lead researcher Robb Willer, in which masculinity-threatened participants showed above-average interest in buying SUVs. "There were no increases for other types of cars," he noted. In fact, the men were so eager to buy an SUV that some claimed they'd pay a $7000 premium. Women, on the other hand, did not change their attitudes when their femininity was questioned.

I thought it would interest some here.

Oh, the rest of the Story:

http://tinyurl.com/cvmeo

[punpirate]

1. Regarding women in the survey...

... it would have been interesting if the researchers had posed the question to women about their security and the security of their children (probably difficult with a pool of undergraduates in the latter instance). I offer that as an alternative because some of the advertising for SUVs has been pitched to women on those grounds, especially in ads portraying women traveling high above the fray while going through inner-city neighborhoods. One can't really separate the product from the marketing and advertising of the product these days.

Nevertheless, with regard to men, yeah, it makes some sense. BCSD.

[enid602]

15. safety

And yet, with their tendancy for rollovers, I wonder if families really are safer. I read that the barriers and guardrails on many highways and mountain roads are not high enough to stop SUV's and large trucks.

[tnlefty]

16. I bought a 5 speed Saturn Vue 1/1/2 yrs. ago to replace a gasguzzling

Ford minivan that I didn't drive for 18 months prior to the invasion of Iraq. Granted, the gas mileage isn't what I'd prefer, but at the time there weren't any hybrids available that I was aware of. I understand that there is one available now, but, alas, I'm not in the market. We downsized the best that we could at the time to fit 3 kids, a trombone, a French horn, and backpacks, etc, to and from school everyday. We also have a 5 speed Saturn SL1 (96) that I drive to run errands and the mileage on that is much better (35-40). The Vue had a better mileage rating than the automatics or other vehicles we looked at and it was better than the Saturn wagons, and any other make of wagons that we looked at. I just decided that I'll be driving less, and no one's gender was an issue.

We did wait as long as we felt like we could for a hybrid vehicle in a size that we could use. I became aware that a hybrid is currently avalilable while listening to Al Franken last week when he stated that he has a hybrid (Mercury make I think) and I could've kicked myself!

[FloridaPat]

2. 70% of the men in this country are insecure in their masculinity?

I'm using the pre-invasion statistics. Isn't it time for men to get real lives and stop being stupid? And speaking of stupid, why is it cool for men to be stupid? At least that's what the ads on TV seem to suggest.

[catnhatnh]

3. My car (ford contour) is TINY compared to SUV's...

now, why won't my d**k co-operate???

[WearyOne2]

4. I know 2 families that have bought SUVs and I would say the

reasons concur with this survey..but both have got rid of them after 18 months or so and got smaller cars ..their not even practical

[Warren DeMontague]

5. I definitely think there's an element of dick size overcompensation

for some guys and their vehicles, and it seems to have gotten MUCH, MUCH worse in recent years.

Where I live, it's giant fucking outsized pickup trucks just as much as, if not more than, SUVs. I'm not talking about people who NEED big pickups or SUVs. I'm talking about the guys with the monster truck jacked 25 feet up off the road, where obviously nothing has ever been hauled in the pristine truck bed.

[DiverDave]

6. I don't think the study

was about size, as it was about the perception of masculinity.

I never really thought about it that way, I wonder what driving a honda CRX (With a DU sticker on the back) says about me.
I just like to drive a fun car, I never thought about the perception issue. :shrug:

[awoke_in_2003]

11. " wonder what driving a honda CRX

(With a DU sticker on the back) says about me"- maybe that we need to keep an eye on you :)

Seriously, though, to many men, masculinity is about size, so penis envy works here.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. I drive a toyota corolla.

I think it says I don't have any hang-ups or issues in that regard... and I get good mileage to boot.

[TInCanCommunications]

7. That may be true in some case but I really doubt it's common

Recently there was an accident with a Geo Metro and a Surburban.
The Metro, on a windy snowy day in which many roads in farm country were snowed over, was literally blown over the center line into the path of the oncoming suburban.

Even wearing a seatbelt, the driver of the metro is dead.
The woman in the suburban, obviously not driving it because she's got a small dick, came out without a scratch.

Must we politicize everything? We're sounding as cheap as them.

For the record, I drive a Chicago-assembled Ford Taurus.

[catnhatnh]

8. Yep,let us politicize it....

why do some people drive 6000lb behemoths while others drive 2000lb transports...at some point it really will come down to weight classes and needs vs. costs...

[sandnsea]

9. They use demographics

Republicans use demographics right down to neighborhood purchasing preferences for direct mail and phone targeting. Don't think for one second this stuff doesn't matter, every single thing you do is in a marketing database and they're all after you, corporates, start ups, non-profits, politicians.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. The question is, why did one woman driving by herself, feel that she

needed a Suburban.

I used to stand at the bus stop in Portland watching the morning commuters coming out of the West Hills. Most of them were in SUVs, and most of them were alone.

I supposed they would have said that they "needed" a humongous SUV for "safety."

It was like an arms race for cars.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Well the friggin' virtual arms race we've had on the highway hasn't helped

Shit, what happens if the 6,000 lb Suburban runs into a 12,000 lb Hummer? What then?

Hey, somebody better build me a 30,000 lb Tank, just to be REALLY safe.

Sorry, Jack, but this IS political. At the very least, I see it as part of a wider "fuck you" trend in our society moving away from giving a shit about other people and towards a "I got mine" mentality- and I certainly do think Bush's supporters are a part of that.

[seabeyond]

10. i would think big ole monster trucks would be in there

n/t

[AX10]

12. makes sense.

.

[mitchum]

17. I drive a Honda Civic, don't wear a watch, and have a discrete belt...

buckle (when I wear a belt)
My wife is a VERY happy woman :)