Women and motorbikes - 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute

English. I'm Neil.

Sam: And I'm Sam.

Neil: And if I say to you, Sam, motorbike,

what do you think of?

Sam: Oh, I think of the film Easy Rider

with Jack Nicholson and

Peter Fonda cruising the

wide open spaces on powerful machines.

How about you, Neil?

Neil: Oh, well, I think of the young man on

a moped who delivers my pizzas.

Sam: Not quite the same image,

is it, really?

Neil: No, but in both cases we were

associating motorbikes with

male figures. Today we are

looking at women and bikes,

but before that, a quiz. In which decade

was the first mass-produced

motorcycle released? Was it:

a) the 1880s, b) the 1890s,

or c) the 1900s?

What do you think, Sam?

Sam: Tricky question! The 1880s

may be too early - so I think I'll play

it safe and go

for the middle option, the 1890s.

Neil: Well, we'll see if you're right

later in the programme.

Esperanza Miyake is the

author of a new study of

the 'gendered motorcycle' in film,

advertising and TV. She was interviewed

on BBC radio's Thinking Allowed

programme about the topic. First

she was asked about

the experience of travelling at

over 110 kph on a motorbike.

What world does she say you

are part of?

Esperanza Miyake: I think it

dissolves gender, race, all these

things stop mattering. It's

all about experience so car drivers, there's

a lot about enjoying the internal space of

the car, on the bike obviously

there's no interiority. You're

completely part of the exterior world.

Neil: So what world are you in

when travelling at speed on a motorbike?

Sam: The external world. Because

you are not inside a car your

experience is completely different.

On a bike you have no interiority.

That's the experience of being inside - but

I do have to say, although that is

a real word, it's not one I've ever

heard or used before!

Neil: No. Me neither. What she also says

is that travelling at speed

dissolves gender and race. It makes them

less important. When you dissolve

something you make it less strong.

Sam: In fact she says that at speed these

things stop mattering.

They stop having any

importance. If something doesn't matter,

it's not important at all.

Neil: Before that we said we usually

connect motorbikes with men.

Think bike, think bloke.

But what about women and bikes?

Esperanza Miyake goes on to talk

about the way women bikers

are usually shown in the media. How

many different types does she mention?

Esperanza Miyake: Generally there's

three types. So the first type

would be your typical

empowered female who's on

the motorbike. You do have that image

but having said that I

would also add that those images

appear typically very sexualised,

very stylised. So yes she's

empowered but she's in

a skintight catsuit. You also get another

type which is the female rider but

who's been masculinised.

She's kind of embodying a very masculine

kind of style.

And I think the third type is kind of silly,

giggly female on a scooter.

Neil: So she talked about three types of

representations, particularly

in movies. Sam, tell us more.

Sam: Yes, she first talked about

the empowered woman. This is a

character who has authority,

who has the power to drive the plot

and action and is not dependent

on a man to make decisions for her.

Neil: It seems like a positive image

but she does say that these

characters are often sexualised,

that is, presented in a way that might be

sexually appealing for a male audience.

Sam: The next character type

she mentions is a woman who is very

masculine. They embody

male characteristics, which means

they have and demonstrate many

typically male personality features.

Neil: And the final type she talked about

was showing women on bikes

as silly and giggly

riding scooters. So there don't seem to be

many really completely positive images of

women and motorcycles, at least not

in the popular media. Time to look

again at today's

vocabulary, but first, let's have the answer

to the quiz question. In which decade was

the first mass-produced motorcycle

released? Was it: a) the 1880s,

b) the1890s, or c) the 1900s?

What did you think, Sam?

Sam: I took a guess at the 1890s.

Neil: Well done, it was a good guess.

It was indeed the 1890s and

a bonus point if you knew that

it was 1894. OK, let's have

a quick reminder of today's words.

We started with the verb dissolves.

If something dissolves it gets

less strong, less immediate.

Sam: Then we had another verb,

to matter, something that matters

is important to someone.

Neil: What's the next word?

Sam: It was a rather uncommon word

to describe the experience

of being inside - interiority

Neil: Let's rush by that one and move on

to the next word, empowered.

Someone who is empowered

is in control of their own life.

When we talk about empowered women

we are talking about

women who are not dependent on men

or anyone else for the direction

of their lives, they

make their own choices.

Sam: Our next word was sexualised.

This is when something is given

a clearly sexual styling.

In the programme we heard that

women on motorcycles are often shown

in a sexualised way, dressed

in clothing, for example, that

makes them sexually attractive.

Neil: And finally there was to embody.

This means to be a clear

and obvious example of

something. So in movies

female bikers often embody male

characteristics, which means they

might dress or behave in a way

we would usually associate with men.

Well, it's time for us to say goodbye.

See you next time and until then you can

find us online and on our app.

Just search for BBC Learning English.

Bye for now!

Sam: Bye!