What forms of socialization lead women to stop cycling during adolescence?

Abstract

Cycling in public spaces is both a mobility and a physical activity underpinned by considerable issues, but women practice significantly less, particularly during adolescence. A few studies have sought to study this phenomenon but mainly on the basis of social psychology theories. Based on 84 semi-structured biographical interviews conducted in France, this article aims to discuss their findings using gender, mobility and socialization sociology. We first show how a ‘feminine’ socialization to risk taking, body aesthetics, sport, street and mechanics is an obstacle to cycling during adolescence, especially in the working-class environment and all the more so in spatial contexts with strong norms of male appropriation of public space. We then show how the fact of having cyclists in one's social environment and a sporting inclination plays an important role in limiting the risk of abandonment. By highlighting processes of reinforcement of gendered bodily and spatial inclinations, our results shed light on the links between the socio-construction of inequalities in accessing public space and of inequalities in accessing physical activities. Furthermore, they encourage the study of bicycle socialisation in an intersectional way and suggest the interest of studying the links between urban, ecological, health, sport and mobility socialisations.

Influencia de la satisfacción e importancia de la educación física en el abandono deportivo

“…Por otro lado, también se ha detectado cierta preocupación dentro del colectivo LGBTQIA+ (Lésbica, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer, Intersexo, Asexual), debido a situaciones discriminatorias en las que a pesar de tener inquietudes hacia la práctica de AFDE, puede impedir su adherencia (Craveiro, 2021). En este sentido, encontramos deportes como el ciclismo en los que tras su práctica, de forma rápida es desechada por las chicas, debido al obstáculo que les suponen los riesgos derivados, la estética corporal, la mecánica y la calle en la que en la mayoría de sociedades se encuentra frecuentada por hombres, derivando en inseguridad en ciertos contextos culturales diferentes (Sayagh & Dusong, 2021).…”

Gendered travel behaviour in micromobility? Travel speed and route choice through the lens of intersecting identities

“…This result may be explained by the fact that some women cyclists might feel discouraged to compete for their right to occupy that space, even in streets with fully dedicated cycling infrastructure (Heim LaFrombois, 2019;Ravensbergen, 2022;Sersli et al, 2022). This unwillingness to assertively negotiate traffic is more persistent in spatial contexts with strong norms of male appropriation of public space (Sayagh and Dusong, 2021) and Barcelona's traffic could be framed as one of such environments since the drivers' fleet is highly masculinised (Cubells et al, 2020). Avoiding cycling through traffic may also go hand in hand with an unwillingness to tolerate harassment from drivers (Balkmar, 2018;Graystone et al, 2022;Lubitow et al, 2019).…”

“…On the one hand, women reported 'feeling in the way' when encountering aggressive male riding behaviours in the bicycle lane (Sersli et al, 2022). This feeling is rooted in the idea that public spaces have historically been framed as masculine, productive spaces, and women are socialised to perceive that they should not be in them, or if they are then they should minimise their presence whenever possible (Heim LaFrombois, 2019;Sayagh and Dusong, 2021). On the other hand, the second response to fast riding is that women often feel pressured to cycle more rapidly, thus reproducing masculine gender stereotypes (Heim LaFrombois, 2019;Sersli et al, 2022).…”