The Sep/Oct 2011 issue of Momentum is out, and this issue focuses on women and biking - one of my favorite topics!
Momentum conducted a survey last month - What Women Want - asking women what were the most important issues that might influence more women to get on a bike. The results of the survey are presented in this issue, starting on page 10.
On page 58, I even wrote an opinion piece in defense of cycle chic, whereas Elly Blue of Grist takes the opposing point of view.
What do you think? Is the cycle chic movement elitist or liberating? Does it alienate or entice women riders?
If you flip through the pages, you might catch a few more familiar faces, with a feature on Mikael of the Original Cycle Chic on page 64 and some insightful commentary from Julie of the Julie Blog on page 35.
And my pic is on page 3 (hee hee!).
6 comments:
GIRlL! I mean WOMAN - I had no idea that's awesome!
Cycle Chic is liberating.
It empowers women to engage in cycling as they are, wearing their normal clothing, fashionable or not.
It provide the image fix that advocates have not been able to correct: sweaty dorks in fluo outfits etc.
There is a certain number of women who are only waiting for other normal women to show the way. Cycle chic helps them.
Cycle chic was also instrumental in shutting up those who pretended non-lycra, or non-messengers, were not real cyclists by showing them what a real cyclist in a real cycling culture looks like, i.e. a lady dressed like a lady.
Thanks for your comments, ladies! I agree. The cycle chic movement represents a liberating lifestyle for many women.
The cycle chic movement is a step toward legitimizing bicycles as transportation, and that is a great contribution. I don't think women should feel compelled to wear fancy clothes to bike any more than I think they feel compelled to wear lycra and team jerseys.
"What do you think?"
I think I'm not sure how riding an upright, cheap yet practical bike wearing a skirt I made myself, a nice button down Oxford and heeled boots makes me an elitist or some sort of fashion whore, but then I'm not a woman, so what do I know? I mean other than that Cycle Chic(tm) is not about women.
Again, agreed. With the amount of women who have emerged with bike blogs or flickr groups of their own showing off their own signature bike fashion, it's hard for me to see how cycle chic is elitist at all, especially when most of these women ride old hand me down bikes and dress in thrift store specials.
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