ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A local unqualified builder has confirmed today that he drives an automatic Ford Ranger Raptor Wildtrak because it’s easier.
Damien Pooley, an unmarried 38-year-old with a reputation nobody wants, told The Advocate that a manual transmission is for lefties as lefties can only afford to buy a car with a manual transmission.
In the same breath, Pooley went on to explain that he doesn’t fall into the traps of what is, and what isn’t, masculine.
“When you’re an alpha male like me, other men are drawn to you,” he said before noticing a puzzled look on our reporter’s face.
“I don’t mean it like that, I mean as a leader. Like, I look after myself. I read books and I make my bed every morning. I guess you could say I have old fashioned views of society but I think we’ve regressed a lot since the 50s, when people had jobs and a future they could plan towards,”
“Nowadays, it’s just a dog eat dog world. Lucky, I’m a real dog.”
While this masthead supports Pooley’s decision to drive an automatic, his ardent adherence to conforming to gender stereotypes and what it is to be a man, it’s just an odd choice.
Driving a manual transmission has long been seen as masculine and men who can’t operate one are seen as being more effeminate and less valuable to men that can.
A study conducted by the NRMA in 2016 found that 95% of Australian women are impressed by a man who can drive a manual gearbox and a staggering 97% of women view owning an automatic car as “unbecoming” of a young man.
Pooley dismissed the study as part of the NRMA’s leftist agenda.
More to come.
