Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Designing for Bodies: Practices, Imaginaries and Discourses, Kolding, Danimarka, 6 - 07 Şubat 2025, ss.32-35
The close relationship between sports, masculinity and men's bodies has received considerable attention from gender scholars. Studies have shown that especially outdoor sports have been identified with a hegemonic form of masculinity, based on physical strength, endurance, competitiveness and body performance (Yellow window, 2016; Warren, 2015). Such a powerful identification leads to an unwelcoming culture in outdoor sports towards not only women, but also other men who do not match this image. Studies have also demonstrated that even when mixed-gender images appear in sports, such images tend to carry implicit hierarchies that emphasize men's authentic position as the adventurer, explorer and conqueror of nature (see for example Wörsching, 2007). While the masculine images and cultures that empower and privileges men and masculinity in sports and physical activity have been placed considerable attention by gender scholars, the role that designed things play in the persistence of these images and cultures has not been explored adequately. Few studies problematise the omission of women’s bodies in the design of fitness apps, which often identify the ‘healthy user’ as the standard male body, overlooking a range of bodily experiences and health concerns (Cifor & Garcia, 2019), or the sportswomen’s use of sport facilities considering its spatial qualities (Jeanes et al, 2021). There are also few discussions on gendering in design focus on women’s sports clothing (Jungnickel, 2024; Fuller, 2021). As the materiality of women being associated with clothing and practices of sewing throughout the design history (Forty, 2005), design scholars continue to address sport clothing in gender context by focusing on cultural appropriation of these clothes and fashion apparel (Fuller, 2021). However, outdoor sports utilize a wide range of physical and digital products, and this paper aims to contribute to this body of work by exploring gendering of bodily experience of outdoor sports products with a focus on cycling.
Cycling has recently gained considerable attention in relation to sustainable development goals such as sustainable cities and good health and well-being. Beyond health, mobility, and urban planning; cycling has been a popular outdoor sport. Although it involves its own dynamic in every context, a common focus is that cycling, as a gendered bodily practice, implies adventure, physical strength and mechanics associated with masculinity. These implications are particularly highlighted in urban cycling, where there is a noticeable gender gap linked to “safety concerns, inadequate infrastructure, societal expectations, and women’s diverse responsibilities” (Amaral, 2024; Ravensbergen, Buliung, & Laliberte, 2019; Kilgour & Parker, 2012).
While the gender gap in cycling has been explored in terms of subject formation through social structures and urban infrastructures (Battiston et al., 2023; Hull & O’Holleran, 2014), there is a lack of studies addressing it as a gendered practice in outdoor sport context; particularly, how the design and use of digital and physical products contribute to gendering in outdoor sports remains largely unexplored. Like many other sports, cycling has a broad product ecosystem that includes physical items such as the bike and its structural components, helmet, cycle wear, water bottle, repair tools, lights, and backpacks, as well as digital applications for tracking location and body metrics. Previous research has shown that communities organized around hobbies constitute a fruitful source for investigating the gendering of products (Kaygan et al., 2019), as knowledge and experience exchange within the community reveals users’ assessments of individual products as well as the consumption practices can help us focus on various design features that have actual influence on users’ gendered experiences. In this study, it is our objective to focus on the physical and digital products of cycling to understand to what extent and in what ways the above-described hegemonic masculine image of outdoor sports shapes, and is, in turn, shaped by the design and the use of these products. Unlike existing studies that have been interested in gender representations in the outdoor equipment advertisements, this study focuses on the practical implications of these products and their roles in interactions.
In our analysis we map various products onto Kaygan’s (forthcoming) “gendered design scale”, which distinguishes between normative and interventional gendering practices in design. The scale identifies six different forms of gendered design practices: gender-stereotypical, gender-blind, gender-sensitive, gender-responsive, gender-inclusive and gender-transformative. Accordingly, gender-stereotypical design reinforces existing gender norms and divisions in society while gender-blind design disregards different gender-specific needs such as assuming a male body as the default for car seats. These two forms are described as gender normative approaches. And the remaining four types are categorized as gender-interventional approaches. Gender-sensitive design acknowledges different gender identities and their needs. Gender-responsive design addresses power asymmetries and injustices related to gender. Gender-inclusive design associates with all gender identities to empower them. Gender-transformative design challenges gender norms and stereotypes by intervening to structures. (Kaygan, forthcoming). While normative gender design approaches prevent the recognition of diverse gender identities and strengthen the existing gender norms, gender-interventional approaches create opportunities to open space for diversities to be represented. We adopt gendered design scale as a theoretical framework to capture the gendering processes around cycling from both the design and the use perspectives.
The field study is conducted with a cycling community in Eskişehir, Türkiye, which has both men and women members. The community is active, characterized by a strong spirit of solidarity, and organizes regular tours of various lengths across both natural landscapes and urban settings. One-to-one interviews will be conducted with the cyclists regarding the features of physical and digital products, their usage practices and their implications on individual and community engagement provide the empirical basis of this paper. Through mapping cycling products and associated bodily practices onto gendered design scale, our analysis will inform discussions on the gender inequity in cycling from a materiality perspective. As cycling is currently addressed in an interdisciplinary approach across many studies regarding sustainable development goals, this study will complement existing research by introducing a fresh perspective to cycling while providing valuable insight for design practice.