Edit: lifted trucks, after market front bars, louder exhaust with larger exhaust tips, truck nuts, American flags or thin blue line flags covering the rear window.. None of these are from government regulations
Also, size is only one prominent factor in masculinity. E.g. a pickup truck is frequently seen as more masculine than an RV.
I like that when I hit two deer in it there was zero, absolutely zero, damage to the vehicle. Thank you brush guard.
For example "In the trailer for "The End of Men," Tucker Carlson worries about "the total collapse of testosterone levels in American men,"
This is not just him shouting random polemic; this is a scientifically measurable and deeply concerning medical trend. https://www.urologytimes.com/view/testosterone-levels-show-s...
Tucker Carlson is using it as a very thin excuse to basically make a series about how men need to be more like a particular cultural concept of men. Here's the trailer for "The End of Men" nowhere does it mention that study or a testosterone drop. Maybe the show itself touches on that but in my opinion that would only be so people like you could justify what is basically a propaganda video for right wing masculine culture.
As for safety "In 2013-16, car occupants were only 28 percent more likely to die in collisions with SUVs than with cars" [1] So you are correct. There is one problem here and that's
"Although pickups are also less of a threat than they used to be, in 2013-16 they were still 2½ times as likely to kill the driver of a car they crashed into, compared with a car colliding with another car"
This reminds me of hoarding, thinking the way you or your wife does just keeps upping the game. Maybe you'll need an even bigger truck because all trucks are large to feel safe. Now everyone is driving fuel inefficient vehicles both wasting money and hurting the environment. You said you are rural so I wonder how much you spend on gas and what could you do with that savings.
Assuming most don't offroad; There was a study that said trucks are used for hauling/offroad less than 20%~ more than once a year). I can't find it anymore so you can call me on that.
Lifting a truck reduces efficiency by creating drag and uplift (I believe that's what it's called). It also raises the center of gravity which greatly reduces handling and increases the possibility of rolling over
Chunky off-road tires wear out faster, are less efficient, and reduce handling on the road.
Extra lights, as well as lifting your truck without adjusting the lights, blind other drivers creating a safety hazard.
So more gas, more money, less safety for everyone, but the person stands out more, like large horns on animal, it's all about peacocking.
And yes, I know this is done in other ways, fancy loud sports cars, showing off money, clothing, etc. If that was going to your response, then I'll throw down the whataboutism card and do a double reverse move and point out those have less effect on the environment and safety. Yes, I know fast fashion is bad for the environment, kids in blahstan, but it's about levels not bad or good.
Presumably others are now terrified to be around your massive vehicle, and you don't appear to have bought it for a practical purpose, so the premise that your wife was made to feel unsafe is then not an indictment of industrial sized vehicles making the roads less safe for others. Instead, it is embracing the stereotypical American pursuit of having the biggest baddest mfing vehicle on the road in a "fuck you I got mine" race to the bottom. It reads as a pretty good satire: "Woman in fear of being crushed by giant vehicle feels much better now that others fear being crushed by her giant vehicle."
You say the comment is lacking in self awareness because she has become what she feared. I'd say that is not lacking self awareness though it definitely feeds into the "race to the bottom." That is orthogonal to self awareness, it is tragedy of the commons. She has no obligation to lower her sense of safety to make others feel better.