Why are motorbikes seen as masculine? Listen to 6 Minute English - YouTube
Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute
English. I'm Neil.
Sam: And I'm Sam.
Neil: And if I say to you, Sam, motorbike,
what do you think of?
Sam: Oh, I think of the film Easy Rider
with Jack Nicholson and
Peter Fonda cruising the
wide open spaces on powerful machines.
How about you, Neil?
Neil: Oh, well, I think of the young man on
a moped who delivers my pizzas.
Sam: Not quite the same image,
is it, really?
Neil: No, but in both cases we were
associating motorbikes with
male figures. Today we are
looking at women and bikes,
but before that, a quiz. In which decade
was the first mass-produced
motorcycle released? Was it:
a) the 1880s, b) the 1890s,
or c) the 1900s?
What do you think, Sam?
Sam: Tricky question! The 1880s
may be too early - so I think I'll play
it safe and go
for the middle option, the 1890s.
Neil: Well, we'll see if you're right
later in the programme.
Esperanza Miyake is the
author of a new study of
the 'gendered motorcycle' in film,
advertising and TV. She was interviewed
on BBC radio's Thinking Allowed
programme about the topic. First
she was asked about
the experience of travelling at
over 110 kph on a motorbike.
What world does she say you
are part of?
Esperanza Miyake: I think it
dissolves gender, race, all these
things stop mattering. It's
all about experience so car drivers, there's
a lot about enjoying the internal space of
the car, on the bike obviously
there's no interiority. You're
completely part of the exterior world.
Neil: So what world are you in
when travelling at speed on a motorbike?
Sam: The external world. Because
you are not inside a car your
experience is completely different.
On a bike you have no interiority.
That's the experience of being inside - but
I do have to say, although that is
a real word, it's not one I've ever
heard or used before!
Neil: No. Me neither. What she also says
is that travelling at speed
dissolves gender and race. It makes them
less important. When you dissolve
something you make it less strong.
Sam: In fact she says that at speed these
things stop mattering.
They stop having any
importance. If something doesn't matter,
it's not important at all.
Neil: Before that we said we usually
connect motorbikes with men.
Think bike, think bloke.
But what about women and bikes?
Esperanza Miyake goes on to talk
about the way women bikers
are usually shown in the media. How
many different types does she mention?
Esperanza Miyake: Generally there's
three types. So the first type
would be your typical
empowered female who's on
the motorbike. You do have that image
but having said that I
would also add that those images
appear typically very sexualised,
very stylised. So yes she's
empowered but she's in
a skintight catsuit. You also get another
type which is the female rider but
who's been masculinised.
She's kind of embodying a very masculine
kind of style.
And I think the third type is kind of silly,
giggly female on a scooter.
Neil: So she talked about three types of
representations, particularly
in movies. Sam, tell us more.
Sam: Yes, she first talked about
the empowered woman. This is a
character who has authority,
who has the power to drive the plot
and action and is not dependent
on a man to make decisions for her.
Neil: It seems like a positive image
but she does say that these
characters are often sexualised,
that is, presented in a way that might be
sexually appealing for a male audience.
Sam: The next character type
she mentions is a woman who is very
masculine. They embody
male characteristics, which means
they have and demonstrate many
typically male personality features.
Neil: And the final type she talked about
was showing women on bikes
as silly and giggly
riding scooters. So there don't seem to be
many really completely positive images of
women and motorcycles, at least not
in the popular media. Time to look
again at today's
vocabulary, but first, let's have the answer
to the quiz question. In which decade was
the first mass-produced motorcycle
released? Was it: a) the 1880s,
b) the1890s, or c) the 1900s?
What did you think, Sam?
Sam: I took a guess at the 1890s.
Neil: Well done, it was a good guess.
It was indeed the 1890s and
a bonus point if you knew that
it was 1894. OK, let's have
a quick reminder of today's words.
We started with the verb dissolves.
If something dissolves it gets
less strong, less immediate.
Sam: Then we had another verb,
to matter, something that matters
is important to someone.
Neil: What's the next word?
Sam: It was a rather uncommon word
to describe the experience
of being inside - interiority
Neil: Let's rush by that one and move on
to the next word, empowered.
Someone who is empowered
is in control of their own life.
When we talk about empowered women
we are talking about
women who are not dependent on men
or anyone else for the direction
of their lives, they
make their own choices.
Sam: Our next word was sexualised.
This is when something is given
a clearly sexual styling.
In the programme we heard that
women on motorcycles are often shown
in a sexualised way, dressed
in clothing, for example, that
makes them sexually attractive.
Neil: And finally there was to embody.
This means to be a clear
and obvious example of
something. So in movies
female bikers often embody male
characteristics, which means they
might dress or behave in a way
we would usually associate with men.
Well, it's time for us to say goodbye.
See you next time and until then you can
find us online and on our app.
Just search for BBC Learning English.
Bye for now!
Sam: Bye!
