In the opposite lane: How Women of Colour experience, negotiate and apply an oppositional gaze to dominant cycling discourses

Abstract

In a cultural context dominated by the car, cyclists are often marginalised. For Women of Colour, this marginalisation may be heightened and help to reinforce often already low cycling rates. This paper is the first to pair hooks’ concept of the ‘oppositional gaze’ with Hall’s theories of representation and reception to explore how dominant discourses around cycling, gender and race shape the experience of UK Women of Colour who cycle. Using go-along interviews with cycling influencers and advocates who are also Women of Colour, it provides space for counternarratives that can challenge dominant discourses about cycling.Borrowing the concept of ‘oppositional gaze,’ we examine the agency of those whose cycling experience is simultaneously shaped by both hypervisibility and invisibility on the road as in the broader cultural and policy contexts. We find that masculine sporty representations in cycling in the UK have material effects on the experience of cycling for women. Women of Colour must constantly negotiate these and other representations that do not fit them easily, sometimes claiming and sometimes challenging aspects of dominant discourses. Despite a small sample size and diverse locations, the insights offered by our research can help policymakers in similar cultural contexts start to build on existing diverse cycling experiences to create more inclusive cycling futures.