‘I wouldn’t take the risk of the attention, you know? Just a lone girl biking’: examining the gendered and classed embodied experiences of cycling

The Social Practice and Regulation of Cycling as ‘A Boy’s Thing’ in Irish Secondary Schools

“…Steinbach et al, 2011;Hopkins and Mandic, 2012;Ravensbergen, Buliung and Laliberté, 2019;Ravensbergen, 2020). Throughout the theoretical section of the article, we have shown how the theory provides novel conceptualisations of patterns indicated in existing literature relating the incompatibility of cycling with practices of femininity, such as how the avoidance of sweating as a girl (Ravensbergen, 2020;Russell et al, 2021) can be viewed as a practice of femininity in the form of continence. Furthermore, we have shown how cycling as a means of exemplifying masculinity through various sub-practices relates to existing literature in the field of mobility that evidence the masculine nature of cycling practices in different contexts (e.g.…”

“…Substantively, this work contributes to a growing body of literature exploring the relations between cycling and gender in which gender is generally conceived of in binary terms (e.g. Steinbach et al, 2011;Hopkins and Mandic, 2012;Ravensbergen, Buliung and Laliberté, 2019;Ravensbergen, 2020). Throughout the theoretical section of the article, we have shown how the theory provides novel conceptualisations of patterns indicated in existing literature relating the incompatibility of cycling with practices of femininity, such as how the avoidance of sweating as a girl (Ravensbergen, 2020;Russell et al, 2021) can be viewed as a practice of femininity in the form of continence.…”

“…As Ravensbergen, Buliung and Laliberté (2019) put it: there is a need for research exploring "how mobility shapes gender" in light of a dominant focus on "how gender shapes mobility" (p6). To date, there has been a considerable proliferation of research using qualitative methods to explore cycling in a way that engages with how mobility might shape gender focusing on adult women (Steinbach et al, 2011;Ravensbergen, 2020;Heim LaFrombois, 2019) and, to a lesser extent, adolescent girls (Frater and Kingham, 2020;Hopkins and Mandic, 2017;Bonham and Wilson, 2012;Russell et al, 2021), with a only a few of these adolescent focused studies engaging with feminist or gender theory in their study design or analysis (Bonham and Wilson, 2012;Russell et al, 2021).…”

“…Although it did not emerge over the course of data collection, Ravensbergen (2020) points out how menstruation is also a concern for women cycling; in this respect, avoiding 'leaking' (p11) while cycling or avoiding cycling altogether while menstruating could be an additional component of the practice of continence as a teenage girl that may be challenging to achieve in the practice of cycling.…”

Embodied spatial mobility (in)justice: Cycling refrains and pedalling geographies of men, masculinities, and love

“…The recognitional dimension of justice brings to the fore how social norms may operate within institutional settings to privilege certain social groups within transport planning while excluding and misrepresenting others. For example, gender may operate as a key axis of recognitional injustice through normative expectations that are part transport regimes embedded in specific abled, sexed, aged, classed, and racialised historical relations (Bonham & Wilson, 2012;Cresswell & Uteng, 2008;Ravensbergen, 2020). The notion of procedural or deliberative justice attends to participation in the governance of transportation infrastructure.…”