A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Reactions to the Inaugural Tour de France Femmes Route

Abstract

Despite interest and investment in women’s cycling, disparities exist between women’s and men’s cycling. Imbalances were evident following announcement of the inaugural Tour de France Femmes, which differed significantly from the Tour de France. We used feminist collective action and critical discourse analysis as theoretical and methodological frameworks to analyze social media users’ (re)production, negotiation, and contestation of gender ideology and gendered power relations in response to the event. We found intertwined discourses of resistance via collective action and counterresistance to maintain the status quo of gender power relations. These discourses underline androcentrism in cycling, where legitimacy in women’s cycling is marked by features of men’s cycling, making gender always relevant among supporters and resulting in significant emotional work. We discuss men’s dominance in sport and its impact on consumers of women’s sport and implications for managers and researchers.