The rest is just culture

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did you decide to get a motorcycle? You don't really seem like the type."

This was the question posed to me by a friend recently, and no, I don't mind if she asks. In fact, I love that she asked. The answer is rather obvious: I wanted a motorcycle because they're fun and cool (why else would one buy a motorcycle?)

I understand that I don't "seem like the type." Interestingly, I do seem like the scooter "type," and since we bought the motorcycle, I've had many people ask why we bought a motorcycle instead of a scooter. Practically speaking, a scooter and a motorcycle are extremely similar: they both run on two wheels and are smaller than a car, they can be priced similarly, and you get wet if it starts raining while you're riding. There are design differences, and motorcycles are more difficult to learn to drive, but the primary difference between a scooter and a motorcycle is the cultural connotation. According to our culture, motorcycles are dangerous and are for rebels or adrenaline junkies. Scooters are cute and are for latte-drinking, environmentally-minded, middle class young people. According to reality, riding a scooter poses the exact same risks as riding a motorcycle, the fuel economy between the two is comparable and an able-bodied person of any demographic and subculture can physically drive either one.

I have nothing against scooters, I just prefer the "cool" of the motorcycle over the "cute" of the scooter. In spite of the fact that I'm a middle class young person.

I don't like being put inside boxes. Probably most people would say they don't like being put in boxes, but I think that overall, most people do like being put in boxes most of the time. It seems to me that one of the deepest human desires is the desire for intimacy. We want to know others and to be known, we want to feel like we belong somewhere. When we look, sound and think the same way as the people around us, we feel like we belong. When we meet new people, we look for indicators of potential for intimacy, and we put out indicators to make ourselves more easily identifiable to the people around us. This is why we conform to subcultures (advertisers know this and, as a result, have created niche marketing.)

But these indicators, the style of our dress, the language we use, whether we drive a motorcycle or a scooter, are simply a constructed identity and may or may not have anything to do with our real, basic identity. We use our constructed identity as an attempt to communicate our true identity. But all those things change according to the subcultures available to us. When we strip away the culture, our true identity remains the same.

In conclusion, stop putting me in a middle class young person box (or any other box for that matter) and asking me why we bought a motorcycle instead of a scooter. I just like them better than scooters, ok?