Quote:
Originally Posted by WorldNakedBikeRider
This is definitely true - the riders are having the best time 
I rode Bristol and Cardiff this weekend and had a blast.
I wouldn't say the posts here are very respectful, but understand they could considerably more degrading. There's room for improvement.
What I think is a bigger problem is just how creepy these threads appear. Girls get catalogued, referenced to where they have appeared before. It's all rather obsessive. It puts women off - this year Cardiff had many fewer women than last. |
I'll put my head above the para-pet here (hyphen to avoid the redaction of four consecutive letters of that word)- not least because I'd not seen this post before my subsequent one went live. I'm a relatively new poster but will say that this is a constant topic of discussion here. OCC as a whole caters to many tastes and I mostly tend to visit for the WNBR threads because of the sheer consensual joy of the riders- this for me is only about beauty. The more guttural users of OCC tend to get stonewalled on these threads, as you imply. Of course things can get obsessive but imho that's simply due to the natural competitiveness of the guys(?) posting. And I'm certainly guilty of that.
I certainly can't and wouldn't speak for all who post here. But I'm pretty sure that many of the most intrusive WNBR photographers aren't sharing their photographs here, and I don't approve of the most openly voyeuristic. It must be said that there was one particular incident on the Cardiff ride last year that was photographed astonishingly intimately by a ride participant. I myself wouldn't have chosen to take those shots, let alone post them online, but- spirit of the occasion notwithstanding- the choice to perform the headstand was one person's alone. One hopes that that imbalance and intrusion could in some way be redressed.
All that said I would happily participate, as I wholeheartedly support the main two protests of the ride- cyclist safety and oil dependancy. But most of the rides are at the far end of the UK from me, in Edinburgh. Maybe Newcastle, next year- great excuse to finally get a new bike!
That's my tuppence worth. But point absolutely taken, now and for the future.