Sexism and fat shaming

[Andrew_P]

She actually stated on her Twitter that she wears Castelli and is a big fan of their clothes so I don't think she was trying to tarnish all Castelli wearers.

To be honest this is what perked my cynicism, that and the fact that she didn't want to use Strava to identify them and when someone appeared to have done it for her claimed it wasn't them which I couldn't understand how she could have known that as a fact.

In the great scheme of things whether it is true or not at least the blog has got people discussing it, my world view is that I have only experienced abuse from car drivers mainly doing it for what they think is a laugh. Even that is only twice in 5 years, and I am sure I look pretty amusing on a bike to some people. I tend to have this clan view of cyclists and have not really been disappointed, yet..

 

[w00hoo_kent]

To be honest this is what perked my cynicism, that and the fact that she didn't want to use Strava to identify them and when someone appeared to have done it for her claimed it wasn't them which I couldn't understand how she could have known that as a fact.

She identified the two that were found on Strava as being people she knew through work. I'm pretty sure I'd get to know people from work if I used flyby on strava with any regularity too.

Considering that 100% fact or embellished somewhat other people on here have agreed that they have direct knowledge of similar happening, I find it interesting that people are more willing to put effort in to labelling her a liar than addressing the issue. It's nice that only car drivers have abused you. Maybe you've been lucky, maybe you aren't a woman (that being quite a big factor here) who knows, I'm not sure I've been abused by another cycle rider, but then I don't share the road with that many. Maybe if I saw 50 in a day then one of them would. The fact is people on here have been, or do we need to prove that too?

 

[jefmcg]

To be honest this is what perked my cynicism, that and the fact that she didn't want to use Strava to identify them

Maybe she doesn't want to destroy them. The internet is a nasty place.

Google Tim Hunt if you don't know what I am talking about.

 

[Spinney]

the confusion about strava is that she was very specific about where it happened and the two riders who passed her around that time were two cyclist she happened to know.

Perhaps this should be 'two of the riders' rather than 'the two riders' - the fact that only two showed up on strava doesn't mean that they were the only two who passed her, nor that they were necessarily the two who hurled abuse.

 

[bianchi1]

She identified the two that were found on Strava as being people she knew through work. I'm pretty sure I'd get to know people from work if I used flyby on strava with any regularity too.

Considering that 100% fact or embellished somewhat other people on here have agreed that they have direct knowledge of similar happening, I find it interesting that people are more willing to put effort in to labelling her a liar than addressing the issue. It's nice that only car drivers have abused you. Maybe you've been lucky, maybe you aren't a woman (that being quite a big factor here) who knows, I'm not sure I've been abused by another cycle rider, but then I don't share the road with that many. Maybe if I saw 50 in a day then one of them would. The fact is people on here have been, or do we need to prove that too?

There's nothing wrong with treating what you read on the internet (or anywhere) with a touch of scepticism, but I admit I do tend to be a bit more mistrusting than most.

So to play Devils advocate slightly

Its interesting that, despite giving a detailed description of the individuals involved, as soon as it goes wild on Twitter she doesn't want them identified. The ride on strave has been deleated, and she's saying the two riders it could have been are work mates. In her blogs, she always mentions people she sees out on rides, but not these two?

The blog is called the 'lonely' cyclist which makes me think she is after sympathy straight away. Why not just the 'lone' cyclist? In the July blog she describes going out on a club run, choosing the fast group, feeling sad she kept getting dropped of the back, and deciding that the other Women on the ride were "snooty" so she didn't bother again.

Most people on this forum have had abuse from drivers, pedestrians etc, some have also had funny looks from fellow cyclists, but actual verbal abuse? From 3 riders on one ride? The lonely cyclist isn't even remotely fat judging by her pictures. Self reported size 10/12


Anyway, without actually identifying the other riders we will all be guessing. Even the believers seem to hint that there may be a touch of embellishment in the blog. That said it makes an interesting read and the posts in this thread highlighted to me again the problems women face. After all, even if it's all made up, if the blogger feels that she is fat enough to be 'shamed' by a comment, despite not being overweight, that's proberly the issue that should be addressed.

 

[jefmcg]

The ride on strave has been deleated (sic)

http://www.strava.com/activities/370125053

 

[bianchi1]

http://www.strava.com/activities/370125053

Ta,

It was showing no page off Twitter.

A good number of kudos for the ride.

 

[Andrew_P]

Interesting use of the word interesting.

How would you rather it worded then?

 

[Andrew_P]

I would have used the phrase "sad but sadly predictable".

Perhaps you would like to explain that?

 

[Lonestar]

She's better than me.I'm not even sure I could get up half the hills round there.

 

[cd365]

Just because it is on the internet doesn't make it true.

She doesn't look fat to me, so that bit is not true at all

 

[theclaud]

Makes no sense at all, last sentence completely contradicts the first.

No - it doesn't.

There's a current of misogyny that lies very close to the surface of everyday life, and runs very deep. Some women are on the sharp end of it every day or night of their lives - so much so that it may come to be their normalized life experience. For those of us who are more fortunate in our circumstances it is something that we are able to forget about until it sideswipes us - apparently out of nowhere, but of course it is not really out of nowhere. Often it lurks beneath a veneer or parodic courtesy, or only expresses itself as a hostile stare. Sometimes, even for those of us who fancy ourselves good at reading subtext, it comes from where we least expect it. Mostly, no-one but the recipient sees it, and most often she will tell no-one. Not really surprising, when she is disbelieved, dismissed or discredited, or her experiences are explained away by men who won't ever have the slightest idea what it is like.

To be abused by three different fellow cyclists in one day is unusual and unfortunate, but that doesn't make it implausible. I'm inclined to think there's something in what @swansonj says. Certainly it's far more common to receive abuse from drivers or their passengers, and not just because there are more of them. All the same, some male cyclists do abuse women, and some do it in the context of cycling. There's enough leering, casual sexism and machismo, even on this forum, to be illustrative of some of the contexts in which that might occur.

It is interesting, to borrow a phrase, that some men are even now pontificating on such matters as the clothing size of the woman concerned, as if it made the slightest bit of difference to anything.

 

[Andrew_P]

To be abused by three different fellow cyclists in one day is unusual and unfortunate, but that doesn't make it implausible. I'm inclined to think there's something in what @swansonj says. Certainly it's far more common to receive abuse from drivers or their passengers, and not just because there are more of them. All the same, some male cyclists do abuse women, and some do it in the context of cycling. There's enough leering, casual sexism and machismo, even on this forum, to be illustrative of some of the contexts in which that might occur.

It is interesting, to borrow a phrase, that some men are even now pontificating on such matters as the clothing size of the woman concerned, as if it made the slightest bit of difference to anything.

The only rider who would have been fairly easily to identify was the one on Boxhill but now thanks to an independent witness it is now said that the rider in black and on black bike was going in the opposite direction going down Boxhill the witness registered on Road.cc as kangaroocourt, and also says he/she was passing the lady blogger at the time the insult was thrown, so how exactly did he/she know it was aimed squarely at the blogger and not them as the insult had no sex identifier in it? That doesn't strike you as pretty strange? Plus I would think it would be barely audible an insult being thrown by a cyclist going down a hill unless they slowed down. This witness gets no mention in the blog, yet the kind person who praises the good cornering does, as does the nice driver.

I have never said it doesn't happen per se all I have spoken about is how I feel about this particular incident.

As I said in my deleted posts it is a huge leap to make to have it implied that I am some sort raving misogynist just because for me some of it just doesn't add up, the sex of the person involved makes absolutely no difference to me.

 

[theclaud]

As I said in my deleted posts it is a huge leap to make to have it implied that I am some sort raving misogynist just because for me some of it just doesn't add up, the sex of the person involved makes absolutely no difference to me.

And who implied that?

 

[Andrew_P]

And who implied that?

If you quoted my last deleted post you would have seen the quotes, I don't really think I should regurgitate the posts that were deleted, as they were deleted for being off subject. If the comments were not directed at me then they should not have been made whilst quoting my posts. As someone else made the same observation then I don't really think I got the wrong end of the stick.