Women on Bikes

My students, and viewers of my photo galleries, know that I have always had a thing for women on motorbikes in the Global South. I hate the damn machines as public nuisances, but the gender symbolism -- women's growing consumer power, occupational status/entrepreneurial activity, mobility/independence, public presence, and yes, appropriation of phallic power and traditionally masculine noise, velocity, and competitiveness -- is all fascinating and encouraging. Click on the photo above or the link below for the article in The Guardian (UK) that evoked these thoughts, a profile of Behnaz Shafiei, Roaring to Go: The Female Motorbike Rider Who Wants to Race for Iran.