My favorite nerdy blog about society, Socio Images, has a post up this morning about Bicycling Magazine. A reader and his female partner both receive “the world’s leading bike magazine” and this year’s Buyers Guide looked identical for both of them… except for a sticker on front of her’s:
Problems? I’m inclined to agree with Socio Images’ take: “Perhaps they were trying to be inclusive, but a sticker advertising a special women’s section just goes to show that the magazine is, first-and-foremost, for men.” Women are a minority on bikes but having a “special section” rather than regular inclusion on every page of “the world’s leading bike mag” feels back-of-the-bus.
Women’s bodies have different proportions than mens’. It seems to me like it would make sense to have a seperate section that deals with gear and bikes that are more specifically designed with women’s physical needs in mind.
And then to notify women that there is in fact a section of your reviews for them? OH, THE HUGE MANATEE!!!
I say this not to detract from the volume of sexism and genderism that affect society… but I feel that there are much better targets. Like the entirety of reality television. Also, Bicycling magazaine sucks. Every cover has “how to lose 5lbs tomorrow” crap on it.
So I’m changing my mind. Fuck Bicycling magazine. It’s dumb and tabloidy.
Perhaps they have determined through research that women do not gravitate to their magazine as much as men. Perhaps they would like to address that and have included the sticker as a way to catch attention on the newsstand. It may be no fault of their’s that women aren’t as inclined to read a bicycling magazine but I don’t think they should be faulted for trying to reach out to them. Just seems needlessly divisive to paint this as some indicator of their view towards women cyclists.
My sexist and ignorant opinion is I see many women riding without helmets, and therefore they see biking as a hindrance of fashion.