by "Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
Published 11/21/2017 at 10:41
by "Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
Published 11/21/2017 at 10:41
Tags: Taketheoutsideline
; Satire
; BMW
; Stickers
STARS: 9
Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Kelly Nikolic, 27, is a lot of things: Independent, sharp-witted, stylish. And her passion in life is cars. She tunes them, races them, modifies them, and details them, but there’s one thing she just won’t do: Girl Stickers.
“A lot of girls my age, we’re just in the minority at these racing events and car shows,” Nikolic says, “and most of them try really hard to stand out even more than they already do. To each her own, but I find it a little obnoxious.”
Ms. Nikolic is referring to what’s known in the enthusiast community as Cis-Stickering, or overly representing one’s own gender through the use of his or her vehicle. Studies show that female Cis-Stickering takes many forms, but usually includes bright colors (often pink or purple), as well as expressions like “Silly Boys, ____ are for Girls” where the blank could represent Jeeps, Trucks, Hondas, or many other diverse, historically male-dominated automotive pursuits.
For male enthusiasts, such Cis-Stickering tends to be less overtly gender-specific, but more socially or morally disruptive. Expressions like “Dapper” or a hand demonstrating an obscure sexual gesture called “The Shocker” tend to dominate urban male sticker choices; while hunting-related buck heads and “Bone Collector” stickers tend to adorn suburban and rural vehicles (usually trucks and SUVs).
“Ever since Bertha Benz took the world’s first car on a roadtrip, women have sought to stand out from mainstream male car culture,” claims Dr. Kelly Saronno of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Institute, or NHTSA. “As soon as she returned home to Karl [Benz, inventor of the car], she immediately printed up an order of FrauerPower stickers to encourage more women drivers.”
For their part, male enthusiasts are generally supportive, yet indifferent to the use of female Cis-Stickering. “Yo, at least I know where the chicas at, amiright brah?” quips Derek Cavanaugh of Riverside, California at a recent Cars & Coffee show. “At least I know when to get that [girl] ready for tha shocka!” he continued, gesturing to the misogynistic stickers that diagonally adorn his Subaru’s rear window. “Hold on, mom’s texting me and I gotta be home for a church thing.”
Shortly after we spoke with her, Kelly Nikolic drove her 2004 Honda Civic Si to a first-place finish in the Indiana SCCA autocross championship. She was immediately featured on the cover of the SCCA’s national magazine as “America’s Best Female Stock Class Racer under 30,” a moniker that is bittersweet to Ms. Nikolic. “I just want to be the best stock class racer there is. I may be a millennial, but I don’t want some esoteric trophy every time I wipe my [self].”
Ms. Nikolic has since gone on to win two additional regional championships and is now the founder of Esoteric Racing, LLC, which focuses on gender equality in motorsports and providing sticker leveling services to a mostly-male clientele – including her own father, who often complains about driving his wife’s BMW 435 with crooked stickers saying “Princess,” “Spoiled,” and a large calligraphic monogram that obstructs his view of traffic through the car’s already tiny rear window.
"PartyPooper2012" (PartyPooper2012)
11/21/2017 at 10:52, STARS: 3
That’s cool, but everyone knows 2004 Honda Civic SIs are for girls.
JOKE.
I don’t know when or how things began that humans began identifying unisex items are only specific to one gender.
It’s stupid. No. Mini Cooper is not a girl’s car. And no, Raptor is not for silly boys.
They are vehicles and anyone who can drive, can drive vehicles. Simple
"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
11/21/2017 at 11:05, STARS: 4
Ugh. Had some thorn-job on the Focus ST group the other day who complained that women didn’t like him because he drove a nice car. And that “women don’t want you to have nice things, they need you to buy them shoes and women stuff lol who else is despreately lonely like me?!?!?!”
The retribution was as swift as it was humorous. And I laughed. And he got banned. Oh was he banned. He was banned so hard, r/incel feels sorry for him. But...it was a deserved banning and follow up example-making-out-of.
Back on topic, these are all just cars. I’m 100% with you. If you try to assign more meaning to them beyond driving, then that’s on you, not the car.
"wafflesnfalafel" (wafflesnfalafel1)
11/21/2017 at 11:11, STARS: 4
Whatever floats your boat - some women really like the pink/”girly” design, some don’t. Some guys like putting Monster Energy drink stickers all over everything, some don’t. I did see a white WRX the other day built up with pink wrap wheels and other accents - not my jam but nicely done.
"For Sweden" (rallybeetle)
11/21/2017 at 11:18, STARS: 3
Everyone knows paint-matching lipstick adds 5 horsepower.
"Little Black Coupe Turned Silver" (littleblackcoupe)
11/21/2017 at 11:22, STARS: 3
If you’re going to write these, at least get the details right. Solo classes are now Street, not Stock. And there’s no way a 04 Civic could ever be competitive, no matter how good the driver is. If she’s going to be America’s Best, it’s going to take winning Nationals, which are held in Lincoln, NE. Is she winning in Ladies or Open? Big difference there.
"EL_ULY" (uly)
11/21/2017 at 11:30, STARS: 2
"For Sweden" (rallybeetle)
11/21/2017 at 11:34, STARS: 0
Except my Volvo is Moondust Metallic, so beige lip gloss.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/21/2017 at 11:35, STARS: 2
As soon as I get paid, I’ll start fact checking. For now, one draft and done :D
"Little Black Coupe Turned Silver" (littleblackcoupe)
11/21/2017 at 11:40, STARS: 3
Here’s the thing. Good satire nails the supporting details, that’s what makes it hard to tell if it’s real or satire. Having sloppy mistakes screams this isn’t real. Writing to a car site means you really have to get things like Street correct, because people know it’s not Stock anymore.
"EL_ULY" (uly)
11/21/2017 at 11:46, STARS: 1
good ol’ 443
"UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy" (smithtaylorm)
11/21/2017 at 12:13, STARS: 0
Was that on Facebook? I remember responding to someThing like that with my story of my ex not wanting me to buy a FoST and my current girlfriend loving my FoST and now considering a FiST after hating hatchbacks before me. It sounded to me like a bullshit excuse for just being lonely. Cars have nothing to do with it.
"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce)
11/21/2017 at 12:33, STARS: 0
Yep. Was the FB group. I loved how the admins came in afterwards to make sure everyone knew what happened and why it wasn’t okay.
He was definitely fishing for sympathy but yeah....his problems are many, but the car is not at fault.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/21/2017 at 13:17, STARS: 1
Fair point, thanks for the tip. I’d still wager even 90% of Oppo wouldn’t know the difference. Besides, even when I lay it on as thickly as possible, it often gets mistaken for real news. That’s just scary.
"UnderSTeerEnthusiast - Triumph Fanboy" (smithtaylorm)
11/21/2017 at 14:16, STARS: 0
I didn’t even see that part. I just said my peace and moved on from that bs lol
"Corkscrew'd" (corkscrewd)
11/21/2017 at 16:53, STARS: 5
I want a pink Aston Martin.
That way, when someone says “I bet that’s a trophy wife’s car” and they see my bearded burly ass step out of the car they’d have to eat their words and it’d be hilarious!
Expect the unexpected.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
11/21/2017 at 19:11, STARS: 3
I would assume Mary Kay sales, but your point stands. I would drive a pink(ish) Aston with zero f*cks given.
Also bearded, 6'2", 215#
"Corkscrew'd" (corkscrewd)
11/22/2017 at 21:50, STARS: 1
Nah man, I need HOT PINK. I wanna look like the Barbie version of a Devil’s Reject driving a Hot Pink Aston Martin and looking like I stepped out of Coal Chamber’s “Fiend” music video.
"SpeedSix" (speedsix)
11/28/2017 at 15:39, STARS: 0
You joke, but it actually is a problem with society, because people are fucked up.
"Corkscrew'd" (corkscrewd)
11/28/2017 at 16:50, STARS: 0
It’s not really fucked up once you realize that these were the lessons that were taught by the previous generation. We could do better by teaching our kids the opposite.
Except me, I’m ain’t having any little Corkscrew’ds running around. There are easier ways to end by he world.
"Future next gen S2000 owner" (future-next-gen-s2000-owner)
02/27/2019 at 12:55, STARS: 0
I was hoping for a “My other ride is your bf/dad ”