The virtual clubhouse: Australian women’s cycling and digital counterpublics

ABSTRACT

In the past decade, there have been several efforts in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to increase the opportunities and improve the experiences of women cyclists in recreational and racing contexts. However, cycling in Victoria and Australia more broadly continues to be a male dominated sport. This study incorporates a digital ethnography of two Melbourne-based women’s cycling Facebook groups including 11 interviews with stakeholders over the period of 2017–2018 to analyse how women and girls are harnessing social media to create counter sports spaces to enhance women’s cycling. The paper explores the emergence of the “virtual clubhouse” which operates as a digitally networked counterpublic, providing a space for women and gender diverse cyclists to connect, coproduce and engage in knowledge sharing practices, and build a more inclusive culture for cycling that challenges dominant, mainstream narratives of women’s sport. The “virtual clubhouse” addresses a gap in the physical bicycle landscape in which cycling and cycling knowledge (including bicycle maintenance) is largely mediated by men and cycling clubs are configured as masculine spaces within Australia. This research adds further depth into a specific localised network of women cyclists to consider how physical and online sports cultures and communities are intertwined.

KEYWORDS:

• Cycling
• counterpublics
• social media
• women’s sport
• sports assemblages
• clubs

Acknowledgements

I want to thank each of the interviewees along with the other cyclists involved in these Melbourne communities for their dedication to growing the sport and building an inclusive culture.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Cycling Victoria and the Australian Maths and Science Institute (AMSI) in the funding of an Australian Postgraduate Research (APR) internship.

Notes on contributors

Verity Trott

Verity Trott is Lecturer in Digital Media Research at Monash University. Her published research explores digital networks and counterpublics related to feminist activism, feminism and popular culture, and anti-feminist groups associated to the Manosphere. She is the author of the monograph Feminist Activism and Platform Politics (2022) with Routledge.