culture: The uneasy ride
Jennifer Rolls, The Gateway (University of Alberta)

EDMONTON (CUP) - Katherine Sutherland doesn't "ride bitch."

As she explained in a recent talk about the role of women within biker culture, "Riding Bitch: The uneasy ride of a chick rider," the derogatory term refers to a person who rides on the back of a motorcycle.

Sutherland, an English professor at the University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops, B.C. who studies the subject of women in motorcycle culture, currently teaches a course called "Motorcycles, Speed and Literature."

She recently visited the University of Alberta as the first part of the English department's Culture on the Edge lecture series. Her talk focused on the contradictions that exist for women in motorcycle culture.

She observed one such contradiction at a Harley Davidson rally that she attended. Motorcycle culture can be very demeaning towards women.

In the instance of "riding bitch’" Sutherland noted that women are treated as grotesque motorcycle ornaments.

"At the rally there is a nighttime ritual parade where men ride around the campsite with topless women on the back [of their motorcycles]. They shine big movie spotlights on the women and everyone applauds. At anytime during the rally, any man can come up to a woman and say, 'Show us your tits.' And presumably, if they are a good sport, they will."

However, unlike the ornamental women riding on the back of bikes, "A woman who shows up at a rally on her own motorcycle is treated with great respect."

Sutherland, who is interested in cultural symbols that represent power and speed, finds hood ornaments and their relation to women extremely fascinating.

In her talk, she explored the historical evolution of hood ornaments and what that progression has meant for society's portrayal of women.

Examples of women as ornamentation can be traced back to the use of female figureheads on the prows of ships as well as the "raid hot momma" icons found on the nose art of World War II bombers.

In fact, Sutherland says that the original female figurehead was the Winged Samothrace, the Greek goddess of victory.

"[Hood ornaments] often begin in a female form and then morph into hard androgynous icons of speed," she explains. "Women are merely ornamental and passive in the representation of speed. They are driven not driving."

Considering the image that hood ornaments portray of women, Sutherland says there is an inherent contradiction in what they symbolise.

"There is an interesting tension between assertion and passivity, rigidity and flow. The wings suggest power, freedom and escape to me, but at the same time, the lack of legs, the kneeling, suggest inertia and helplessness. There is a weird paradox in this representation." For Sutherland, "The equation between bike and bitch makes women simultaneously powerful and inert."

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