Thinking with Bevereley Skeggs - Stockholms universitet

of masculinity, car design and technology? Robert, a 34-yearoldcar customer from Stockholm, depicts his next car projectas more of a ‘raw object’ compared to his current pink, 1960Cadillac. Armed with the knowledge of how to modify cars, hisnext car venture will need a more powerful engine, more boldpaint and sound compared to his current one. What he wants is a‘sleeper’ car.Robert: […] the car looks very tame and quiet but with the potential somuch more than what it was from the beginning.Dag: Then, why is this important?Robert: Ah well, it is because it is sensational and dramatic. When the cardoesn’t look like anything much, then, it just lets rip …just big-time.Dag: So, does this have to do with, you see before you these traffic lightscenes…Robert: Yes, sure it is about that, you measure all the time. Wherever youturn in society you assess, so sure, it is clearly about measuring.It is significant how the everyday ‘measuring’ forms a centraltheme in the narrative about the ‘sleeper’ car. If technologieswork to articulate gendered subjectivities, technologies may alsobe re-made to encompass the intentions of the driver, for examplecompetitive car driving. In the process of re-making the car ‘act’better as a street racer car, both masculinity and technology areco-constructed. As a user, he is an active subject in the processof co-constructing a driver-car as an underdog, a position fromwhich the ability to stand tall and strike back regarding themeasuring on the streets is much stronger compared to showingany visible ‘car muscles’. Viewed through the lens of shame, remodellinga car into a ‘sleeper’ car makes it possible to avoidbeing shamed through ensuring the ability to impose shame. Toawake the ‘sleeper’ car, and let it break loose into something‘huge’, may ensure the driver-car proves masculinity through theability to shame back. Following this, the effects of masculinityas performed through craftsmanship, technology and drivingskills seem hard to separate from emotions of humiliation,12