"Ford Designed The Ranger To Appeal To Girls and Young Women"

This is something I hear occasionally from people that own other
brands, and even some F-series owners.  Immediately I want to just
dismiss it as the old, tired, worn, Ford vs. Chevy vs. Dodge vs. The
Imports battle.  It's the classic schoolyard dig- being called "girly"
because I have a "Truckette" or some crap.  Not that any of that stuff
bothers me.  I still like my Ranger and I think it was a good choice of
vehicle at the time, and it continues to be so.

Anyways, it's starting to show up in print now (superficial articles in
the newspaper 'autos' section, Consumer Reports magazine (who has a
vendetta against Ford anyways) and other misc. places on the web), but
without any real explanation of *how* the Ranger would appeal to girls
and young women.  Aside from say, making seat belts a certain way so
that they don't smash their breasts, or some cosmetic stuff like
coloring, interior prints, etc...   one would think that most any car
or truck is pretty 'gender neutral'.

Yet, interestingly, when I first purchased my Ranger in 1999, I noticed
a lot of middle-aged women driving them (you know how it is when you
get a new to you vehicle, you suddenly notice ALL of them on the road
;)  ).  That's not so much the case anymore, but I also live in a
different part of the country now.

Anyone have any real data on this, or any suggestions on what would
make a truck (or anything else) "girly"?  I have a feeling that this is
just one of those things that gets repeated enough times so that it
becomes 'common knowledge' even though there's no rationality to it.

Besides, all the young, hot, tiny, dumb chicks I see are typically
driving Hummers, Yukons and Expeditions.

I'm kind of hoping this to be an interesting discussion instead of a
flame war, but oh well.  This is Usenet. :oP

thx

-phaeton