I am female and I am straight, so dont have much of a personal axe to grind, but nonetheless I am fed up at the number of negative comments about gayness on this forum. I find it sneering, nasty and outdated.

Comments have been going on for a very long time, sometimes farcically ‘concealed’ by using the term ‘jay’ instead when making negative comments about people and even about bike components! People on here complain in horror about the BNP party being prejudiced towards sections of the population because of colour or race, but its apparently very acceptable to pick on peoples sexuality while writing on here.

Before someone suggests this is a troll, its not. Its a complaint about offensive attitudes.

fair point

This thread is gay

“Jay” means XC clad lycra whippet

The correct spelling is ‘jey’. As an xc jeyboy myself i’m quite offended by your ignorance of this ;-).

Report the posts then….

To be fair though, ‘jey’ conveys a different meaning to me, nothing to do with sexuality. But there you go….

This is either a troll or someone has completely misinterpreted something.

Good grief.

on this forum.

other forums are available.

Report the posts then….

Yeah, I’d love to know where all these homophobic posts and threads are…

scored badly…?

bloody heck, good job your not fat, you would be suicidal dearie….

iz ur bik saracin?

bloody heck, good job your not fat, you would be suicidal dearie….

😆

The forum’s answer to Mary Whitehouse

As above, my understanding of ‘Jey’ means something very different than ‘gay’ and on reading any post using the word it is blatantly clear.

This surely must be a troll? Or someone new to the forum with no understanding of the intricacies of the inner workings of the average STW mind.

Complete nonsense. A recent thread on here showed what people’s real attitude towards homosexuality was. The only user to make a homophobic remark was forced to apologise and admit unconditionally, that he was wrong. At the moment there’s a thread going on in which users appear to be trying to ‘out-gay’ each other. And I’m sure Adam doesn’t feel that he is the victim of any sort of abuse because he has proudly announced that he ‘likes cock’.

Goodness me – its the internet – the last bastion of un PC behaviour – leave us alone – we are self moderated.

now less of this, and more of Where’s IWH I want my bits/money/gerbil

I am female and I am straight, so dont have much of a personal axe to grind, but nonetheless I am fed up at the number of negative comments about gayness on this forum. I find it sneering, nasty and outdated.

Its no different to the type of conversations you hear at work, in the pub or out on the trails. Its life and to ask people to stop is like asking them to stop breathing.

I wear lycra when riding my bike. I find it comfortable etc etc. How many times do you think i have been mockingly called Jay by my friends whilst out on rides. I take it in the friendly, joking manner it is meant. If one of my pals pussies out of riding a section they get similar comments in return. Put it another way, if we cant use terms like gay or Jay, would you like us to resort to swearing when giving abuse in jest. You will never stop lively banter and i would rather hear someone reffered to as Jay or Gay than c**t, t**t etc etc.

Honest non-trolly question here:

Are ‘jeyboys’ reclaiming the word then? (like ‘queer’ or ‘****’ which you generally only say if you are either homphobic/racist or gay/black) I always thought (but not sure whether i read this or summised it myself…) that it was adapted from ‘gay’ as a way of sidestepping sounding homophobic, and basically had its roots in gnarlier riders slagging off lycra-clad xc riders with some fairly low-common denominator ‘humour’.

Please enlighten?

Its no different to the type of conversations you hear at work, in the pub or out on the trails

Really??! I never hear this many arguments anywhere “real”!!

Oh but we like to be sneering, nasty and outdated (as well as sexist). 😉

Prejudice rocks! 😆

But seriously, I will take your points on board just incase I decide to be a bit more mature in future.

Got to be a troll this one….

But Hobo – finbar, will etc’s points still stand – ‘jey’ is not the same as ‘gay’. ‘Jey’ to me is some nutter XC type in lycra with shaved legs, regardless of sex or sexuality.
‘Gay’ is something different; personally I don’t recall ever seeing it in a thread as an insult or derogatory term; I also don’t recall anyone getting stressed, anxious or insulted by seeing it. IME, of course

1/10

Has anyone here been actually personally offended by any comments, or is it just time to jump on the outrage bandwagon where we all have to be offended on behalf of someone just in case someone hypothetically might be offended?

I don’t think the proverbial man on the Clapham omnibus (or Clapham common for that manner) would be offended by us of the word Jey/Gey in any form of banter.

{Moderated – and poster banned for the day – see? It does work – Mod}

Also, TBH I can’t really rember either word used in an offensive way. I don’t think anyone means anything by it, put it that way.
If you look at the ‘How gay are you?’ thread it appears that, as in all walks of life, there are gay people using this forum. I’m sure there would be objections if it got out of hand?
Now sorry for generalising a bit, but of the gay people I know it seems that they are more tolerant of stuff like this anyway. I guess you has to be…?

p.s. – Tring to choose my words very carefully here!

this thread iz Gay!

Julian – that would be the best explanation.

“xc-jeyboy” originated as a misspelled dig at XC riders on (I think) MBUK’s forum. It has since been adopted with gusto and pride by riders happy to be Lycra wearing, fast, XC riders. I’ve never heard it used to describe gay riders, as an insult, or as anything more than a lighthearted description of XC racers.

All homophobic/racist posts (I’ll add ‘that get reported’ because it’s impossible for us to read all threads while still writing a magazine at the same time) that get reported (or that are spotted by the moderators) are dealt with quickly. We’ve made the ‘Report Post’ button as easy to hit as ‘Reply’ so anyone finding a thread offensive can report it.

I agree with the OP, but doubt it’s worth the effort. As ernie says, when challenged on this by someone who is actually homosexual most people will quickly bleat that they are not prejudiced and didn’t intend to be.

While we’re at it we should reclaim the use of the term “porch-monkey”. 🙄

“xc-jeyboy” originated as a misspelled dig at XC riders on (I think) MBUK’s forum.

😆 that is funny for a couple of reasons…
cheers Chipps.

…so it is alright to embrace my own ‘jeyness’ then?

doh – I hadn’t actually seen the ‘how gay are you’ thread before I posted. Not that it looks like it’s being offensive…

Personally this smacks to me of Sachsgate – 3 people complained at the time, then the Daily Mail told the world, and 15,000 people who hadn’t even heard the show were OUTraged….

bloody heck, good job your not fat, you would be suicidal dearie….

Or happen to like Lily Allen, have any form of piercing or tattoo, not ride a singlespeed, call Brant or Mark names 😉 , stick up for IWH, like Superstar brake pads, ride a Specialized, diss Thompson components……
…ad infinitum
😉

so anyone finding a thread offensive can report it.

Does that include post where you high sense of fashion is displayed?

And more to the jay/jey/gay debate…
Is someone wearing lycra underneath a baggy still in the closet then 😉

lol @ z1ppy!

‘Gay’,or ‘Gayer'(as in ‘he’s a bit of a ‘gayer’ at xc’) dosen’t necessarily mean ‘homo’ any more,amongst people I mix with.it can mean,’lightweight’ as in ‘Jey’,or ‘Shonky’ as in a bit ‘crap’ ‘loser’,etc’Gayer’,etc.,

I’m pretty sure this is how the majority take the word these days.
Maybe the O.P. just needs to get out more,if you’ll pardon the pun.

But Midnighthour, Lycra-clad cyclists really ARE Gaylords….what term is better/more accurate????

I never thought the term was derogatory at all….. 😐

Must be her “unclean” time of the month and she’s a bit sensitive

I’m male and I’m 33% gay, but I’ve been on this earth long enough to know that boys will always compete over who is more “manly”, it’s just that the smarter ones do it with a big dose of irony. Jey, ghey, or “gay in the Chris Moyles sense of the word” is simply the opposite of manly and has little to do with man on man sex action.

So take some evening primrose and MTFU.

Hey BoardinBob don’t “mince” yer words…oh shit I’ve done it again