That Maxxis "babes calendar" article…

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……..

the Maxis Babes, yesterday…….

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?

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.[/quote]I’m not offended by it but it might make one or two of our partners question the advisability of letting us men go on mixed gender rides.

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

Do you not knock one out to porn ?

Well there’s one example (of a few) where women earn more than men.

. The calendar is aimed that their principle customers.

Not a bunch of hand wringing, IT workers who ride bikes.
Is it really true that their principle customers are neanderthal outdated sexist pigs with the outlook of a teenage spotty boy?

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.

To me, its more perception rather than context. A male calendar and a female calendar on the same page would be the same context. Just that as illustrated by Adele and Cougar, their perceptions of each are different. Adele outraged. Cougar ambivalent.

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

Exactly. I imagine you probably wouldn’t want to go on a forum “social” ride with a few on here, now you know they’ll be mentally undressing you….

All this talk about the 70’s, well I started work in an office in that era and it was common place to see calendars featuring naked/half naked wimminz. These calendars were not hidden away behind the filing cabinet, instead rather proudly displayed so everyone could be subjected to an eyeful of scarily oversized knockers with scarily oversized nipples. 😯

Did I mention the (undoubtedly male) competitiveness that accompanied any newly obtained calendar? How sad to see a bunch of adults crowing over that. 😐

It basically reads as:

Adele and a number of female STWers, my own partner included: “I’m offended by Maxxis’ objectification”
Some blokes on STW: “You’re wrong! How dare you be offended! I’m not offended, therefore you cannot be!”

can there be a third group who say :
” I understand you may be offended and respect that and equally respect that others may not be offended.
Thus respect that people have differing opinions on the matter without getting too depressed on the whole”

Women are omnipotent enough not to need calendars so I don’t see what it has to do with them.

The real question is – why will a calendar with scantily clad women make more money for charity than just some pictures of tyres?

Is it really true that their principle customers are neanderthal outdated sexist pigs with the outlook of a teenage spotty boy?

You think of them like that. They would probably just say they enjoyed looking at attractive women in “sexy” clothing and poses.

If you went into a garage/service station work area, I guess the majority would have similar or worse displayed.

Wasn’t there a thread in here a couple of years ago, that had a video of Guy Martin visiting the Orange factory? If I remember correctly, the fact that there was a couple of calendars in the welding bay that had naked women on them, offended some people so much, that they were going to boycott Orange?

I really can’t see how anyone can get this upset about this.

I really can’t see how anyone can get this upset about this.

Jesus wept.

I really can’t see how anyone can get this upset about this.

It’s just progression innit?

Look how far we’ve come; women given the vote; racial equality; same sex marriage…..this is just another step forward. THankfully, there have been people who cared in the past’ otherwise we wouldn’t have got this far

Some blokes on STW: “You’re wrong! How dare you be offended! I’m offended that you’re offended, but that’s completely different

FTFY

Erm, doesn’t really matter what men think…it’s the women’s opinion in this matter that really counts….and even thats problematic because they’re not a homogenous group either…either way, very comical that men seem to think it’s their place to say nowt wrong with the issue of women portrayed as sex objects…

Where do we draw the line?

Earlier in the thread, it was pointed out that offended lady was also bigging up Lisa Snowdon.

Now Lisa Snowdon has appeared in “glamour” calendars, Maxim, FHM etc.

She is portrayed as a “sex object”.

Is she being objectified? Probably.

Is she being exploited? If so by whom?

Surely the blogger should feel as angry with Lisa as she does with Maxxis?

If the issue is

women portrayed as sex objects…

then why chuck your toys out of the pram about Maxxis and noone else? It just shows a level of naivety on the part of the author.

I think cheekymonkey888 got it right.

grum – Member

Some blokes on STW: “You’re wrong! How dare you be offended! I’m offended that you’re offended, but that’s completely different

FTFY

This is bollocks to be frank. I’m annoyed at the level of censorship it implies. Who are you, Mary Whitehouse?

What if all of the perfectly respectable ladies in the offending calendar were wearing nice evening dresses? How about cardigans? What if they were all over the age of 40? Would that be empowering?

The original premise is confused and makes no sense after a little inspection other than as a kind of censorship crusade.