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      “Even more than that, men love cars”: “Car guy” memes and hegemonic masculinity

      research-article
      * ,
      Frontiers in Sociology
      Frontiers Media S.A.
      car guys, cars, masculinity, hegemony, memes, driving, gender

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          Abstract

          The construction of gender identities occurs through a variety of social forces, including memes widely circulated on social media. Beyond the function of internet memes as entertainment, they also promote gender-based bonding through humor in ways that encourage performative gender roles central to self-image. Decoding memes as a form of contemporary data reveals desires and fears, both conscious and unconscious, that underlie dramaturgical performances supporting hegemonic masculinity. In the case of “car guys,” car aficionados whose passion for cars is integral to their identity, memes reflect the group's aspirational presentation of self, including cars, as a symbolic physical embodiment of hegemonic masculinity. This semiotic study of 60 car guy memes shared on social media uncovered recurrent motifs centered around cars' ability to affirm men's position in the metaphorical driver's seat. Flashy cars were often portrayed as more desirable than women, a sentiment encapsulated by the meme, “Men love women, but even more than that, men love cars.” This novel analysis of memes explores the ostensible male preference for fantasy cars over emotionally risky relationships. Two salient themes relevant to conceptions of masculinity emerged: (1) car guys' apprehensions about male–female interdependence and (2) frustration with women's discretion in meeting men's emotional and sexual needs. Memes as a cross-sectional, unfiltered data source provide insight into the need to reconcile car culture with gender equality.

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          Most cited references55

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          Identity-based consumer behavior

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            • Book: not found

            Hanging Out in the Virtual PubMasculinities and Relationships Online

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              “It Gets Better”: Internet memes and the construction of collective identity

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Sociol
                Front Sociol
                Front. Sociol.
                Frontiers in Sociology
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                2297-7775
                04 January 2023
                2022
                : 7
                : 1034669
                Affiliations
                Department of Sociology, McDaniel College , Westminster, MD, United States
                Author notes

                Edited by: Katherine Louise Appleford, University for the Creative Arts, United Kingdom

                Reviewed by: Cristiano Felaco, University of Naples Federico II, Italy; Andreas Giazitzoglu, Newcastle University, United Kingdom

                *Correspondence: Lauren Dundes ✉ ldundes@ 123456mcdaniel.edu

                This article was submitted to Gender, Sex and Sexualities, a section of the journal Frontiers in Sociology

                Article
                10.3389/fsoc.2022.1034669
                9845925
                7be15286-eed9-4afc-b39d-9018ef9b09a2
                Copyright © 2023 Dundes.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 01 September 2022
                : 28 November 2022
                Page count
                Figures: 3, Tables: 0, Equations: 0, References: 68, Pages: 16, Words: 11008
                Categories
                Sociology
                Original Research

                car guys,cars,masculinity,hegemony,memes,driving,gender
                car guys, cars, masculinity, hegemony, memes, driving, gender

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