[Closed] That Maxxis "babes calendar" article...

Lemony - have you ever climbed abroad?

I've climbed all over the place. I've climbed with thousands of people. I've climbed in 40 degree heat.

I've [b]never [/b]seen anyone, who wasn't on the beach, climbing in a bikini (bikini top/bralet, yes but that's not really the same thing).

This thread is depressing and the forum suddenly feels like a less friendly place.

Reading her site the lady is sex obsessed. Reading her articles gives us glues as to what's going on in her head.

When your group ride grinds to a halt because one of the members breaks a chain, and the club mechanic somewhat reluctantly fixes it (because everyone is looking at him and he knows that he'll do it the quickest and get everyone under way again before they freeze) and gets his hands filthy this is what is going through Adele's mind:

Then there’s the swagger that comes on if they get to fix your bike mid-ride. Never mind that we could do it ourselves: who can deny a chap the opportunity to get his tools out? It’s a green light for him to demonstrate, with one twist of a chain link device, that with skills like this he could probably also wrestle a bison to the ground while procreating with every willing maiden between here and the next cycling-themed café.

Anyone see a problem with referring to women as 'babes'?

No?

So it would be ok for us to run this cover line on the mag when we next run a women's bike test..

'3 Babe's Bikes Tested!'

Cool as we are shooting the messenger now[ and not addressing what she said]...do we get to call her a feminazi?

A look at the Adele Mitchell's site shows an article on Glamour magazine's sportswoman of the year, with the tag line "Vote for your favourite sportswoman of the year with Glamour, and help support the fight against sexism in sport."

A quick google image search of Glamour magazine's front typical front cover shows that it panders to the very worst (often media created) stereotypical female hang ups and issues: looks, weight, sexual problems, relationship problems etc. It doesn't really scream "strong independent female"

Only if you do the bike testing in a bikini Mark!!

Dinosaurs... Dinosaurs everywhere

This thread is depressing and the forum suddenly feels like a less friendly place.

🙁

I'm sure someone will come along in a moment to explain why it's your fault you feel that way and how you need to 'lighten up'.

*sigh*

[img] [/img]

[b]TITS OOT LUV!!!![/b]

etc, etc, etc....

Its really been fun this little holiday in the early 70's, hasn't it?

Are we doing a casual racism one next week? anyway... my mate Chalky....

There are far more depressing things in the world .. [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33810338 ]Farkhunda: The making of a martyr[/url]

Some messengers lack credibility and do a disservice to the cause they adopt. Bono has supported some worthy causes but in my opinion devalues everything he touches because of his hypocrisy - encouraging others poorer than himself to give money while avoiding tax himself.

When I read Adele's article I agreed with her message, I also find many adverts sexist and ridiculous - that one where they try to sell watches with macho men flying stunts planes and object women looking decorative for example. I shouldn't have Googled and found her site because it devalued the message and I won't feel embarrassed by Maxxis logos on my tyres (though most are Michelin)

[quote=binners ]Are we doing a casual racism one next week? anyway... my mate Chalky....Does he have a wee corner shop in Inverness?
https://goo.gl/maps/wmA6ctC2uXR2

And now we have one of the worst/best examples of desperate whataboutery I've ever seen.

There are far more depressing things in the world .. Farkhunda: The making of a martyr

Yes, because rape and murder exists, anything more trivial than that is of no concern. Great point, well made. Honestly.

[quote=grum ]And now we have one of the worst/best examples of desperate whataboutery I've ever seen. And I thought you were going to refer to binners' post about racism 😥

Reading her site the lady is sex obsessed.

So she is asking for it then is she?

And I thought you were going to refer to binners' post about racism

It is quite amusing to see binners being the champion of PC here - bit of a turnaround from the Tyson Fury thread eh? 🙂

The problem with people who still live in the 70's in their heads is that they like it there. So these debates are fruitless because no amount of explanation can ever convince them their thinking is from a past era that the rest of us have developed away from. You have to wait for the lightbulb to go off in their heads and they realise why where we are now and where we are headed is better than that.

All we can do is keep pointing at stuff like the Maxxis Babes phenomena and say, 'nope, that's a bit disappointing' until enough light bulbs have fired that the marketing departments realise their market is shrinking.

Adele's column isn't going to radically change anything but it is a vital component of the nudging process that needs to be maintained to help move us all on to a better place where women are treated better than they once were. I like to hope that after all this, Maxxis marketing department may question what they do from a marketing perspective next year. Even if all that happens is some seeds of doubt are sown in there it's a start that may help with the total of nudges that will eventually lead to a change.

No idea, El-bent.

Here's one of her articles on sex and cycling:

[url= http://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/group-riding-dynamics-and-the-elephant-in-the-room-14763/#LmeFg4Ao4gJxG58B.97 ] Group riding dynamics and the elephant in the room, sex[/url]

I ride in a mixed MTB group. I thought we just bumbled around like big kids getting tired and muddy.

So you have no idea? There's a thing.

Anyway why mention it then?

grum - Member

hats the same thing written the other way around! And you make the same point I do - if she is going to be offended by this then she'd better not buy, for example continentals or michelins. I don't know about the rest but I would imagine you could find something to be upset about if you look hard enough. And thats just tyres. Good luck coping with the rest of life.

It's funny because you're clearly pretty 'upset' and 'offended' about the article she wrote. Good luck coping with the rest of life.

Pardon. I'm not really. It strikes me as a fairly innocuous thing to get upset about. If I'm bothered at all its that someone who can obviously write quite well and has a modicum of intelligence would be so animated about something so trivial and in such a one sided way. Fair enough, point out the inequalities in the sport and ask the question why they feel the need to use scantily clad women to advertise (though the answer is obvious) but why single out Maxxis when they're all at it?

Its reduced to a shallow piece of forced outrage when she really could have made a decent point. The calendar really isn't outrageous, offensive or even unusual.

I've been boycotting Maxis since the 70's due to their blatantly sexist adverts........[img] [/img]

the Maxis Babes, yesterday.......
[img] https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSClFUbdvEYETJFYtrcW3uE3T4keyEQB5XZXFJElmL2PnshVqAxIA [/img]

Yes, a group ride with men is, in reality, a hormonally driven thigh-fest dance, packed with sideways glances, not-so-casual overtaking manoeuvres, one-upmanship and general strutting around for fifty miles.

Its certainly the only reason I go on them. TBH i dont agree with everything she says [ hell I barely agree with everything i say] but she is correct about this calendar.

Whether or not Adele has a penchant for writing articles on sexual attitudes in cycling or not is totally irrelevant. Play the ball, not the player. See gamergate...

Her point remains a good one. We can either live in the 21st century and show respect to women, or we can objectify them and behave like a bunch of giggling 70's schoolboys. This isn't about being PC, it is about growing the hell up and valuing 50% of the human race. If some women behave like "Ladz" that is their own individual choice and not a reason to be inconsiderate to all women.

The calendar really isn't outrageous, offensive or even unusual.

Maybe not to you. Because you're male, for a start. So not the one being defined by how good you look in a bikini. She's certainly not the only one who finds it offensive. Even you must have picked up on that by now?

why single out Maxxis when they're all at it?

Really? So if you have quick google you'd soon have a choice of *insert name of manufacturer here... BABES! calendars would you?

Off you go then! If you post them up! Then we'll have a poll and see which purveyor of rubber has got the best tits! Seeing as thats the level of intellect we seem to be now operating at.

Or maybe there won't be a huge selection, because maybe some people - maybe even tyre manufacturers - have realised its the 21st century. Who knew?

Nothing wrong with growing up. Nothing wrong with being adolescent either.

How is it inconsiderate to all women?

Some of the horses ridden round this thread are really very high.

I see that this thread hasn't really progressed beyond the 1970s...very few blokes on here seem to get it, yet the majority feel compelled to comment on the fact that a female cyclist feels patronized and insulted by the way the industry continues to project perception of her gender.

Perhaps we should leave it to the ladies of STW to debate this as they're in a far, far better position to comment on the nuances of how it is to be on the receiving end of sexism?

Group riding dynamics and the elephant in the room, sex

What an absolute, total load of bollocks.
I will not buy a ST with an Adele Mitchell article in it. Totalwomenscycling indeed. **** off.

Yes, a group ride with men is, in reality, a hormonally driven thigh-fest dance, packed with sideways glances, not-so-casual overtaking manoeuvres, one-upmanship and general strutting around for fifty miles.

I find this far more offensive and likely to put women off cycling, than a calendar that isn't even aimed at cyclists and most will never see.

I think whoever wrote the article on STW needs to just chill out a bit really. I'll possibly be buying MORE Maxxis tyres because of the calendar 😉 . Just sayin.

I've got a question for all on here who are not happy about objectifying women,

Do you not knock one out to porn ?

Too vague a question, which genre?

[quote=dragon ]

Yes, a group ride with men is, in reality, a hormonally driven thigh-fest dance, packed with sideways glances, not-so-casual overtaking manoeuvres, one-upmanship and general strutting around for fifty miles.

legend - Member

Too vague a question, which genre?

Porn with women in who are clearly being exploited and objectified.

Not dwarf porn though.... that doesn't count.

Only to porn where the laydeez dominate. 8)

yunki - Member
Dinosaurs... Dinosaurs everywhere
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

Really, it was not long ago you were arguing it was no big deal to wipe your Todger around a drunk sleeping girls face while filming it.

Whilst I generally agree with the sentiment of Adele that it can be wrong in places to objectify women, I think the whole article and the manner in which the subject is approached is OTT. It succumbs to the currently annoying social etiquette of it must be an outrage when you disagree with something. Talking about going for a ride in rage and anger about it . . . Really? If that's how much an email which iscan easily be deleted and moved on from bothers you, then I think you need to reevaluate your priorities of what you worry about a bit.

Is the calendar really an outrage? No.
Is it a bit misplaced? Yeah probably.
Will there continue to be sexy calendars in general? Always.

As long the human race pro-creates, there will always be an element of sexual attraction between people, and I really don't see that going away. So her comments about the group rides are a little simplistically naive I think.

Is it a bit misplaced? Yeah probably.

I find it strange that a lot of people think the marketing is out of place and they have got it wrong.

They are a tyre manufacturer. The calendar is aimed that their principle customers.

Not a bunch of hand wringing, IT workers who ride bikes.

In the article, it seems that Adele seems to presume that mountain bikers are their primary customer and not a tiny% of the business.

The misplacement was meant more as you say, sent to mtb genre.

Aaah yeah..

true that chip! 🙂

I think I did say that it depended on how good of a friend the girl was, and how open minded/debauched your multi gender circle of friends is..

Nice contextually inaccurate slur though 🙂
I'm a bit disturbed that a conversation from over a year ago has stuck with you, have you been dreaming about it? Does your username relate to something you carry on your shoulder?

My dinosaur comment goes both ways..

Some girls like a bit of nudey fun, some not so much, some not at all..
All women are different, separate individuals last time I looked

Am I right in thinking Adele must actually follow Maxxis on twitter?

I do love the language used on this post:

Dinosaur
Objectify
Astonished

Its all very 'sensational'.

It's like an online Great Debate audience! 🙂

I havent' got time to read this whole thing now but Cougar:

But the counterpoint is, what if Maxxis had printed a companion "Maxxis Hunks" calendar? I'd be struggling (as a white heterosexual male with all the privilege that brings) to bring myself to give a shit about that.

It's about context. Women are and have been in a different sociological position to men. The relationship is asymmetrical. As a modern forward thinking feminist man you might be completely unaware of this, because it's not on your radar at all, but it's still out there.

I've got a question for all on here who are not happy about objectifying women,

Do you not knock one out to porn ?

Is this a question for the male readership?

in reality it is also objectifying men in porn too