Comments on: The Most Goddamn Admirable Thing I’ve Seen All Year /2012/07/26/the-most-goddamn-admirable-thing-ive-seen-all-year/ A feminist pop culture adventure Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:14:43 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6 By: Miranda /2012/07/26/the-most-goddamn-admirable-thing-ive-seen-all-year/#comment-3892 Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:14:43 +0000 http://www.badreputation.org.uk/?p=11564#comment-3892 In reply to Meg.

This was a really interesting comment to read, thank you for stopping by! If you ever want to guestpost about it you’d be welcome.

]]> By: Meg /2012/07/26/the-most-goddamn-admirable-thing-ive-seen-all-year/#comment-3879 Tue, 31 Jul 2012 02:33:56 +0000 http://www.badreputation.org.uk/?p=11564#comment-3879 Biker culture is … interesting, and significantly varied. The type of chauvinism I’ve encountered in my local community is different from what I run into in normal culture. For one thing, it is easier to opt out as a woman, and even women who don’t opt out seem to me to be treated as individuals, if that makes sense. They may be likely to be defined by their relationship to men, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t expected to ride, to know about bikes and be interesting people with things to say. Bikers have conversations with women they aren’t sleeping with and don’t intend to sleep with (I spent time around tech; this is not a given.) Even the on-a-pedestal-women are admired for participating in some, but not all, of the toughness culture.
They are also admired for being sexually available and attractive, but I’ve encountered less double-bind culture there and it’s an older hobby; it’s not the case that women leave when they get past 30. There is a good chunk of hard-core objectification around, especially in marketing, but often it is objectifying women who aren’t in the culture. There are sort of four options: bikers (who can be men or women), passengers (who are almost all women), non-bikers (men and women and kids, whatever) and sexy women (who bring beer and are used to sell stuff to bikers).

I think much of this is because it is an opt-in subculture. Women who enjoy going to events are there because they want to be, just like the men (married men often ride alone if their wives don’t want to participate.) It’s decidedly a working-middle-class hobby (being able to afford a second vehicle to drive around just for fun is a luxury, but it’s not an urban or uber-rich hobby), and that means it tends to be a more sufficiency-culture. There are lots of charity events (which I associate with rich people, generally) and people toss in more than needed to cover those who might be tight. Where I live it involves a lot of middle-class people who grew up poorer or more rural than where they are now, and it is a way to hang on to a more community-centric culture that doesn’t look down on you for where you came from.

At least, that’s certainly why I participate.

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