Female subjectivity in masculine public space

Power relations in the visuality of truck beds

Abstract

This article explores the visual representation of women in truck bed paintings as a cultural phenomenon that goes beyond mere street aesthetics. From a Cultural Studies perspective, truck bed paintings are seen as a space for identity contestation where women's subjectivity is constructed, negotiated, and subordinated under the masculine gaze. Using qualitative methods through critical semiotic reading, this research attempts to dissect how power relations operate in a public space dominated by men (drivers and conductors). The analysis shows that the visualization of women in truck bed paintings functions as an object of solace as well as a marker of patriarchal domination, where women's bodies are commodified into texts that convey messages of morality, sexuality, humor, and even social criticism. This phenomenon emphasizes the tension between masculine desires and the domestication of women's roles that are continuously produced repeatedly along the logistics distribution route. This visual narrative is mass-produced and reproduced along the road, creating a cycle of meaning that perpetuates gender subordination while making the highway a display space for men's power over women's images.