The socio-politics of bloomers and lycra: Why cycling wear still matters
I am currently working on this paper for an event in September.
In 1899, Lady Harbeton was refused entry to the Hautboy Hotel in Ockham because her cycling attire of a bifurcated skirt was considered offensive to customers. In 2010, a group of cyclists in lycra were asked to leave a pub due to olfactory issues arising from their attire. What these cyclists wore (and how they smelt) singled them out for persecution and ridicule. All suffered humiliation on account of their cycling identities. The paper explores what cyclists wear and why it still matters, 120 years after the bicycle has been popularly adopted and to a large extent normalized as a mundane and ordinary mode of transport. I draw on these incidents and interview data from three UK cities (Hull, Hackney and Bristol) undertaken for the ESRC funded Cycling Cultures research project during 2010 and 2011 to discuss how and why cycling wear continues to be a highly divisive issue with far reaching social, cultural and policy implications.