Video - Is the Prius Gay?

Okay, you can all debate the useage and the meaning as applied of the word "gay". But come on? The whole question is inmaterial and ridiculous.

Would you even take it seriously if someone asked or told you a Dodge 3500 Pick-Up was Macho? Or that driving one guaranteed a level of coursing testosterone? You wouldn't even take the question itself seriously. Or you shouldn't.

So of course The Prius isn't "Gay". Not gay "lame" or gay homosexual. It's too bad that the question even get's asked and attempted to be answered. The Prius is an automobile. The sexual orientation of the driver is personal, private and individual to each and every owner.

I think detractors or opponents of Prius have enjoyed attaching the stereotype of The Prius being a "less than masculine" vehicle. And being a thrifty and efficient hatchback The Prius becomes an easy target for those that equate masculinity with 0-60 times, and the ability to burn rubber, which clearly isn't the Prius's mechanical or design goal.

Plus in my personal opinion it is somewhat unfortunate that Toyota itself seems to support this unspoken mythology with ads that would make Richard Simmons giggle.

But is The Prius "Gay"? No. It's a machine. If you appreciate engineering, efficency, and technology along with utility, which personally I find to have no well spring in either femininity or masculinity...just humanity...then that is your answer. The Prius is a car for humanity.

 

My take on all this is: who cares if teenagers think my car is "gay"! This is also the main segment of the population that is less reasoned and practical; so there are few qualities of the Prius that they'd appreciate. These are probably the same morons I see on a Friday night trying to rev so quickly that they actually spin out of control (I have seen this a few times with teens and their new tricked out hotrods). Is it macho to be so stupid?

There are some cars that I personally feel are lame, but I don't openly berate the people who own them. I'm old enough to know that we're all different and that we all look for different qualities in our car choice. It takes an adult to know that there's a whole world out there that has a whole range of values and qualities....it's only the immature that think we all have to subscribe to some set of attributes.

 

Hear hear

 

Since so many people are screwed up to think a car is an expression of their manhood or sexuality than a form of transportation, why not exploit it?

Instead of setting CAFE standards, set styling standards - the bigger the guzzler, the "gayer" it has to look. No self-respecting redneck will touch a pickup.

I would specify each class of vehicle to meet weight limits, aerodynamics, horsepower caps, and high gear ratios. On the surface, it would be to improve fuel economy (which it would), but none of these would be the real driver....it would be social engineering - read on.

One way to break an addiction is to make the addiction sickening - that would be gas guzzlers.

There would be a mandatory trade of non-commercial guzzlers...they could get new guzzlers - if they could stand it. Effective immediately, all vehicles over 4000 pounds, esp. non-commercial pickups would be prohibited from being in conservative colors, but only neon colors, pink, and powder blue (in the sense Jeff Durham means). Horns would be of the meep-meep variety - muffler sounds would be wimpy, aeroskirts and rainbow pinstripes would be standard. If diesel trucks are allowed to soot, part of it must get in the passenger compartment. Let's not forget, the blunt, brick grill would be prohibited and replaced with the smiling Prius wedge. In other words, pro jocks and NASCAR racers would steer away from this new look so sharply they would rollover.

Compacts and subcompacts on the other hand would be the only ones allowed to have macho conservative colors, camouflage, semi-horns, fart-pipes or simulated sounds on EVs, bull-ball hitches, and gun racks.

All across the nation, churches and community groups would get perks for participating in "Crush a 4x4 Day".

I think everyone "gets" this thought exercise. If Sigmund Freud were alive, even he would probably amazed by the homophobia drivers have. I have *no idea* what a "gay car" is unless it's a stalking tailgater, which some of us unfortunately have encountered. It makes no sense to me, but if drivers have these kind of hangups, why not exploit it? In my thinking, the guzzlers would have the WWII gas rationing mentality: "is this trip necessary?". Not to save gas - of course.