Last bastions of boys’ clubs being infiltrated

WHY do so many women have it in for male cyclists? There’s much female irritation about Lycra-clad blokes getting up at dawn to go through their paces and then sitting around for a manly chat. How dare they have so much fun?

This is just one more activity that traditionally attracts men – a boys’ club – which women seem to resent and want to take over. It reminds me of covetous children. Haven’t we all witnessed kids who have no interest in a toy or activity until it attracts the attention of another child, particularly a sibling? Then the battle is on, as the first child seeks what the other one has.

Women seem endlessly to covet things that give men a thrill. They love to take over activities previously reserved for males – determined that men shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy what was traditionally their territory.

Everywhere there are women making the case that men should be forced to share their toys.

Toys like bicycles. With twice as many men as women enjoying regular cycling, there’s a major push to attract more women and that means making it safer. Fair enough.

But according to gender researcher Kate Jelly, this means we must “build cycling infrastructure that is explicitly feminist”. Her article, published in The Guardian, argued that the reason more British men than women use bicycles is the “UK’s cycling infrastructure is especially hostile to women”.

Jelly is convinced motorists have it in for female cyclists: “We have normalised a society in which men can move around as they please while the rest of us fear for our lives for the simple act of travelling home.” And the evidence for this daft statement? Jelly digs up a ludicrous study which found that motorists are 3.8 times more likely to pass too closely to female than male cyclists.

It turns out this so-called research study, from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, studied only one female and two male cyclists, measuring the distance between the cyclist and the passing motorist in nearly 3000 separate events.

Their data in fact revealed almost all the motorists behaved well – all but 1.12 per cent kept 3ft from the cyclists. And the greater hazard for women was based on motorists passing three inches closer to the women in the tiny number of risky passes.

Is there no limit to the lengths gender warriors will go to claim victim status for women? Not when arguing that women shun cycling for safety reasons, rather than acknowledging issues like helmet hair and the bottom-amplifying effects of Lycra.

The lesson is clear. If women believe that the roads aren’t safe for them to ride, then cycling infrastructure will have to change.

Yet risk-taking is surely part of the attraction of cycling for many men, who sail past me on Sydney’s hazardous roads as I dutifully stick to the city’s infuriating cycle paths, complete with uncoordinated traffic lights at every corner.

In the past it was often the bicycle which gave little boys their first chance to escape their mothers’ skirts, a taste of real freedom, even if it came with the occasional bent bike and bloody knee. But now that more women are keen to take up cycling it is decreed that safety is paramount.

Safety at all costs isn’t usually what springs to mind when facing city roads on two narrow, wobbly wheels but, never fear, women will find a way.

Whenever women muscle in on men’s activities or interests, the end product is something very different, often holding far less attraction for either gender.

The classic example is the humble comic book featuring the heroic male superhero which entertained generations of little schoolboys – and a few of their female friends. But when feminism came to control our cultural narrative, it was determined these pale, stale supermales must be shoved off their pedestals. Comic book creators introduced all manner of female superheroes: Kamala Khan, a Muslim teenaged girl, became Ms Marvel; there was a new female Thor and a black female Iron Man.

That all went down like a lead balloon. Marvel Comic’s vice president told a 215 person sales conference that “people were turning up their noses” at the new female characters. His words created an uproar and he was forced to backtrack, stating his company was proud of their new creations and the diversity crusade continued.

One of the most outrageous examples of women chasing men’s toys is their demand for entry into Men’s Sheds. This organisation was started exclusively for males about 15 years ago – designed particularly for older retired men to support each other. But suddenly women wanted in and sheds came under pressure from women who wanted to join cosy woodwork sessions with the boys.

It’s led to a huge split in the movement between those still keen to promote the mateship they believe is vital to support vulnerable men and those seeking brownie points from the ladies by embracing inclusiveness.

The jury is still out as to which side will prevail but, given the thousands of women’s organisations thriving across the country, it is quite remarkable that blokes weren’t allowed to keep this one for themselves.