Quote:
Originally Posted by JammyS
With all due respect, I'm not convinced. People on here have been forecasting that for a couple of years now, not least riders who've posted hoping to influence the behaviour of photographers. But I genuinely don't see any definitive decline.
Yes, 2014 and 2015 were stand-out years across most UK rides in terms of numbers of female riders- probably largely because both were great weather-wise. The weather in 2016 was really grim, and despite that, in 2017 Bristol had its highest ever number of partially and fully nude women; Manchester came close to matching its highest.
What is maybe changing is the number of photos easily available, and this is in line with what participants want. Personally I'd much prefer to have fewer photos of more women than more photos of fewer women. Yes, Cardiff had a weird year this year, but tbh for me it's only ever been a couple of notches above the naturist-only provincial rides, and has yielded top class stuff rarely (again, 2015 was lovely). It did have a decent number of female participants this year- a not unusual number- just hardly any photos for the various reasons that have been speculated.
2017 was a solid year across the UK rides, despite or maybe even because of the stranger political backdrop. I can't speak for international rides, and my guestimates of the huge London and Brighton numbers are not infallible. But I've read lots of predictions of 'peak-WNBR', and the reality looks very different to me, at least. We may have a better idea in a couple of months when the dates are set and FB ride pages posted, but again- especially so in 2014 and 2015- there is very little correlation indeed between the number who sign up on FB, and the number who actually ride.
Just my tuppence worth!
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Not entirely sure if there ever was a golden age of WNBR. The past two London rides were excellent, much more fun than Brighton for me personally. The situation at the latter has reached a pretty stupid level of misplaced paranoia now. The hypocrisy is staggering and hardly bodes well for the future. Trying to encourage riders to refuse permission for photos even from respectable snappers (press, naturist lifestyle mags, cycle journals and such) is just ludicrous. And yet that's what happened at the 2017 Brighton ride.
The past two or three Manchester and Bristol rides were also extremely good. They certainly don't seem to be in decline. I do think most of the minor rides are a bit pointless, if I'm honest. Saying that, I covered and very much enjoyed the small Canterbury and Folkestone rides in 2017. You turn up with a camera and people are actually pleased to see you at these
Weather plays a pretty big part, of course. And the frankly unacceptable and intrusive behaviour of some people prying into the everyday lives of certain riders has cost WNBR some of its biggest stars. But turnout remains high, new faces appear each year and the rides are generally well received and increasingly accepted as genuine protest events.
The whole snapper paranoia thing (only really an issue at the Brighton ride) could be helped significantly by issuing official passes. But this is discussed year after year and nothing ever comes of it.