Belstaff and Gender
If Belstaff was a person, it would definitely be an intrepid, tough and stylish man, who drinks the best beer and loves classic motos and cars. There are several reasons why Belstaff is perceived as a male brand. The first one is that the brand is intimately related to the moto world, and motorbikes have always been a boy-toy. Less than 10% of motorbike buyers are women (CBS news, 2012).
It is possible to see signs of moto lifestyles everywhere around Belstaff. In its history and its relationship with figures like the well-known bike’s lover Steve McQueen and motorcycle trial icon Sammy Miller (Belstaff official website, Adventures section, 2015). Signs in it’s products, being Belstaff a victim of its own product success;
While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.
After analyzing the hit TV show “Leave it To Beaver,” I noticed how different the gender roles, both male and female, are portrayed much differently than our modern-day gender roles. For example, in the YouTube clip: “Beavers Big Contest,” it seemed that the mother was staying home, cleaning the house, folding the laundry, etc. while the father was working all day. As mentioned in chapter 3, the husband was most definitely responsible for the families’ economic survival. We still have these kinds of situations today, but there are also many more families where the roles are reversed and the family is depending on the woman for their economic survival. Aside from that, the family relationships that were observed also seemed slightly different than the relationship I have with my family. For example, everybody in the family was present. Moreover, there wasn’t any separation or divorce. Today, divorce in families is much more common and often expected. Also, Beaver would always refer to his father as sir. I know that my family does not use the terms ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ while addressing each other. I also haven’t seen
Harley-Davidson, Inc. since its inception has specialized in selling dream motorcycles that are of high quality and distinctive in styles. The company in the past have seen turbulent business environment to the extent of leveraged buyout, infiltration of foreign made bikes as well as government regulations. Yet despite these factors, Harley-Davidson continues to reap profits, yield high growth of approximately 15% a year and retain its customer base (Official Website 2004). This position in the market is however limited to the US whereas in other countries of the world Harley-Davidson products remain luxury item requiring emotional attachment with American iconism.
The term “biker”” is anyone who rides a motorcycle, but for most Americans the term suggests tattooed, leather clad, barroom brawling, criminals” (Quinn & Forsyth, 2010, p. 237). The image that non-riders have refers to the “Outlaw biker” (also call the one percenters) and makes up only one percent of the culture (Quinn & Forsyth, 2010, p. 238). This paper will bring forth the other ninety-nine percent of the culture to give the public a look at the image from a different perspective. The research questions were: What is the culture of the American biker, how has it changed over the years and what influenced those changes? It starts from its early beginnings in the 1940’s with returning World War II veterans, who were looking for something other than the domestic expectations of the dominant society (Austin, Gagne, & Orend, 2010, p. 946) through the “non-outlaw recreational touring” (Austin, Gagne, & Orend, 2010, p. 943) biker culture of today. Influences, such as how the American biker culture has been exaggerated by the media and hyped by the movies to portray an image of thug like and dangerous. Then showing how the manufacturing side, with commodification and branding, created an alluring image of that culture which continues to evolve even today. This author’s methodology is a review of literature from scholarly journal articles and on-line sources about the biker culture.
1.T.Hall was singled out because he had both qualities of male and female. Because of this fact, he played the roles of female and male. This made people upset, because there was clear guidelines and social rules that must be in place for both genders. The idea that a female can role-play as a male and gain the same rights of males scared many people.
There is a certain freedom that comes with riding down a long highway at eighty miles per hour on a Harley Davidson. That kind of freedom is something that only a minority of society chooses to indulge in, while another minority looks down upon them and chastises them for their decisions. “All bikers are bad news and the scum of society” they say as they sit in their easy chair reading shakespeare and sipping tea. Even to this day, there is a stigma held against the biker community that they are all just a bunch of trouble makers and beer drinkers that live outside the laws. Being a man who has been around the biker community since I was born, I’m here to share some knowledge and hopefully convince the skeptics that not all bikers are bad news.
Lyon, Robert, Citi Bike’s road trip: where next?.New York . New York University Stern School Of Business. 2014. Print.
In the Victorian era, men continued to act as the superior gender to their female counterparts. Because men were usually more educated and wrote more works of literature, women were often absent from the bookshelves of the past. In The Stranger Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the evident lack of women in the storyline elucidates the social roles they had at that time— to be maids, prostitutes, or innocent witnesses. Simultaneously, the lack of attention paid to women paradoxically bring more awareness to the topic. There are a few female characters in the novel, but they only play as observers, serving minor roles to the central plot of the story. Written at a time when gender roles were unstable and shifting,
Today in society it can be agreed that women have indeed gained many rights that were not accessible to them 100 years before. Although, despite the mentality that men and women are treated equally there are still very many discrepancies between the treatment of genders. Many of which can be attributed to the expectations placed on the genders, gender roles between both genders, and women in the workplace. These issues have caused a great rift to form between the genders, a rift that has caused one gender to claim dominance over the other and this can develop a sense of inferiority by the submissive gender.
Sex and gender play a big part in american society today and are often misconstrued. These two topics have become progressive as people are starting to express their gender and sexuality in ways other than what is and has been considered the norm. Many people believe that sexuality and gender are synonymous with one another. Gender is socially constructed while sex is biologically determined. In society’s past, Americans often strayed away from discussing controversial topics, but with the rise of different ways of addressing people, it is deemed more important to understand. Along with the blurred lines of gender and sex comes sexuality, who someone is attracted to sexually. When people stray from society’s heteronormative mindset, they are often faced with many more challenges than the average hetero man or woman. People often have the preconceived notion that if something does not concern them, then they should not be involved in it. A person who could be your neighbor, co worker, or even child, may have to deal with the troubles of people confusing their gender identity with their sex. While also facing challenges that deal with the sex of the person they choose to love. Learning the difference between gender and sexuality will open the eyes of many people and see how the two are different but relate to one another very much.
Schopenhauer, the German pessimist philosopher, wrote in 1851 that only a man overcome by his sexual impulses could have given the name of the fair sex "to that undersized, narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped and short-legged race."
To conclude, the two Bechdel Tests prove woman and coloured characters are poorly portrayed and clearly misrepresented in popular culture films. The Bechdel test is judged more thoroughly than just as a fail or a pass, it is something where people in society can easily recognize gender and racial discrimination. To add, I believe there is a link between what we view in media and what we view in society, and the representation of women and coloured people are designed to surround and idolize a dominant character, this character being a white male. In order to challenge viewers even more, I would want to add ability to the test, by asking, are there two or more characters with disabilities (should have names)? Do they talk to one another? And
Sandra Bem, a pioneer in social psychology, introduced the concept of androgyny in her 1974 study, ‘The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny’. Bem was the first in her field to suggest that masculinity and femininity range on two separate dimensions as opposed to one single dichotomy. The study encountered statistically significant results to this idea and it was found that Bem’s idea of androgyny had been supported. Further psychological research has shown that Bem’s original study had great impact on the psychological and sociological communities together, influencing further researching and becoming applicable as a reference in court proceedings such as, that of Norrie May-Welby (Bibby, 2013). In 1981, Bem furthered her research with ‘Gender Schema Theory: A Cognitive Account of Sex-Typing’, a revision of the findings from her 1974 study with an additional analysis on how gender is perceived and determined by the individual and the cognitive processes involved in identifying maleness and femaleness in the environment. The BSRI remains applicable to both disciplinary and practicing psychology and will still produce similar results (Carver et al, 2013). Bem was a significant influence on the study of psychological androgyny and social psychology as a whole. The 1974 study prompted much criticism, which Bem often considered in her further works, assisting to further the understanding of androgyny and gender in psychology.
Harley Davidson recognizes that the needs of a male motorcyclist are quite different than the needs of a female motorcyclist. Women prefer motorcycles which look like the traditional motorcycle, but fit and feel better. Although Harley Davidson sells the same basic model motorcycle to men and women (with some slight variations in seat and comfort amenities) for generally the same reasons, how they position the product to the two separate markets is quite different. Behavioral patterns as it relates to purchasing, as well as some variations in physical needs and wants, warrant a separate approach for product positioning.
Since the founding of Harley-Davidson in 1903 by Arthur and Walter Davidson and William Harley, the company has a rich heritage and a loyal following. The company has proven to be resilient and innovative throughout the years. They have made their fair share of mistakes, especially while under the ownership of AMF, whose decisions almost destroyed Harley-Davidson. They have also made an inspiring come back, recapturing their share of the market and more. Harley-Davidson has managed to attract all sorts of riders including motorcycle “rebels”, women and blue and white color workers. In fact, in our church small group there are two