Yorkshire cyclists swap Lycra for lingerie for charity calendar

Why exactly are these people only wearing underwear? That Helen Mirren film was years ago.

I disagree with the woman involved in the calendar who argues here that she's the only one that can criticize it. That's an oddly self-absorbed line to take, sorry. It's not about you.

Her calendar affects other people - and the way women are asked to participate in society "but in your underwear please, yes" is a wider, more pressing issue than whether she feels flattered by her photos and is untroubled by sexism in her own (by her own description) privileged position in society.

I think female skimpy calendar shoots will be terrific once all uk workplace sexism has been fixed, women are no longer routinely paid less for the same work in the UK, and women are equally represented in politics. Probably some other things too but that's a start. Some way to go.

How's the male-female balance in road.cc readership? Would you have run this story if you only had the wall photo, without the 3 or 4 pictures of women in pants?

Of course Nick doesn't like it, he makes cycle clothing!

People cycling in pants will force him to close up shop.

I wonder if we could do a similar thing on alpe d'huez ?

But its not high-viz lingerie so they're invisible anyway.

Drivers are going to wonder why you've produced a calendar full of unremarkable pictures of empty bits of Yorkshire scenery.

I think Mouleur's hit the nail on the head... don't live in denial of your basic programming... you are put on earth to pro-create and you are hard wired to do this.

Part of that process for men is to find women visually attractive, and women's bodies have developed to be just that...

Appreciating, celebrating, whatever, the human form and sexuality is fine... whats not fine is acting like a sexist dick.

Or put it another way... I'm sure most of us will at least once a week want to smack someone in the mouth... we don't though do we?

I think it's fair enough, loads of groups do naked calendars - it's a tradition and I don't think there's a problem with that.

What I don't think needs to be done is banding 'womens cycling' together with 'charity calendars' - these are just ladies who bike (a social group, just like the WI who do the same) - doing a shoot in underwear (though the tog sounds a bit on the oioi side). I don't think it should be seen as representative of women's cycling, especially, as others have said, since so much has been done to try and balance out the sport.

I'd quite happily gawk at a calendar of Fabian Cancellara pics all day.... that doesn't make me sexist, it makes me human, if I met him in person I wouldn't slap his arse and tell him to show us some skin, I'd ask him about his bike riding....and maybe politely compliment him because I think he's a bit of alright while also being my hero at the same time.

If people want to buy this to gawk then fine, if people want to buy it for charity then fine, personally I'd rather just send some money in to the charity regardless - or reward something like a big athletic challenge or something like that. I don't think boobs need to be got out to raise cash.... there are better ways, but don't give the ladies shit for doing it - if it were a load of 70+ WI birds no one would bat an eyelid, in fact they'd probably be all for it because "awww isn't that nice"

It's just unfortunate that so many people would and will display unsavoury opinions around it, i.e. there's a difference between being politely attracted to an image and being disgustingly misogynistic about it - THATS what the problem is.

all woman cyclists should dress like this. woman. know your limits. and remember dont try and look decorative and think it just wont work. stay healthy

What I find the most uncomfortable about this calendar is that after all the work that has been done to gain recognition for women in sports, someone still thinks that the best they can do, is approach women to pose in lingerie.

I would be much more comfortable if this was they're own initiative, but it does not seem like it was.
I wish the photos were celebrating their strength and fitness instead of repeating glossy magazines cliches.

Everyone is perfectly entitled to pose in lingerie, and it's everyone's choice. Naked photos of women, if done well, don't have to be detrimental to women's cycling. Sadly this is not the case here.

Shit, I was looking at the bikes.

I'll buy it!

..and for balance, genuinely, if anyone would pay money to charity to see me in some posh pants and vest, I'll happily bring my bike along.

A famous someone once said 'you're entitled to your opinion, but it's wrong'

It absolutely appalls me, the number of white people who are white and the number of men who are men. Racism and sexism is everywhere.

Oh yeah, all straight people are homophobes.

In Britain this "tolerance" is way, way, waaay out of proportion, especially in the media. In my eyes it's just as bad as racism or any other "hot-topic-non-pc" discrimination.

I wonder if men disaproving of women not conforming to their own standards of behaviour which they have for the opposite sex can see the irony in their claims to be standing up against sexism.

Seems to me this is a good humoured fundraiser for a very good cause, which some folks in more urban and better resourced southern areas might not realise how much is relied upon in Yorkshire and the North East and is also very much in the spirit of celebration of all things cycling and northern in the run up to the Grand Depart.

Lighten up people, and well done to the folks behind the calender.

Well said Sarah, I'm amazed at some of the comments

As one of the ladies who did this calendar I'd like to thank those of you who made positive comments. Some of you may think it mediocre, or that it damages women's cycling in some way which I think is sad. We all love cycling and are advocates of women's cycling getting a fair hearing. We are all also professional women with jobs, and families and we fit our cycling in around these other commitments. We were asked to do it by the photographer- it's not something we went and sought out but given an opportunity to raise money for the charity of our choice we said yes. It was a really hard thing to do, none of us like the way we look but we believe it was better to show real women who cycle and are fit than skinny models who have never ridden a bike. At the end of the day the only people who have the right to criticise are us- and believe me we did criticise a lot. And to the man who asked what we would do if he wolf whistled at us when he saw us out cycling- we would laugh and say thanks- we might even return the compliment.

We need more men in lingerie. On bikes. Just to even things up, of course, also I don't see why the ladies should have all the fun here. Just off to figleaves.com to do some research.

[...some time later]

Only blooming swimming trunks and briefs in the men's sports bit. This is obviously a gap in the market, Rapha, get your act together, we need luxury padded pants! In pink merino wool!

All power to them for raising money for charity, but I'm not sure they've added any value to the image of women's cycling. I get really narked when I see half naked women being used in advertising to sell bikes. Why does it always have to come down to sex. This is doing nothing to rid the industry of that kind of image.

Surely the big question here is: Who buys a calendar in June?

These ladies were featured on the "100 Great Things About Yorkshire" episode of Countryfile a few weeks ago, and I just thought it was toe-curlingly naff. Even if it takes their personal feelings of empowerment to new highs and they raise billions into the bargain, it's still naff.

I think it's a perfectly pertinent question.

A lot of people that see a women walking around in underwear are going to comment in some way don't you think?

If, whilst out and about cycling a guy recognises one of the women from the calendar, and wolf whistles at her, what would be the reaction?

Will she laugh it off? Or post about it on Every Day Sexism lamenting the grossly offensive fellow that tried to belittle her?

If these women were lithe and nubile young women (and pro cyclists) then i could perhaps see where Nick is coming from but in a society obsessed with 'perfect' body image (see the Jo Rowsell article) its nice to see normal women not afraid to get their jelly cubes out.
There are loads of these type of calendars about - men and women - so i suppose there is some kind of equality and this is as far from pro cycling as one can get so Nick's anxiety about setting back women's pro cycling by such activities is hardly valid.
In my opinion.

This pitches itself in the Full Monty / Calendar Girls vein but shoots and misses IMO as it's just scantily clad women. There's no story or irony or, God forbid, a 'statement' behind it.

Also: Photographic composition is awful.

Misguided enthusiasm for me. You used to be able to get in a bath of beans when you were 9 and be done with charity for ever.

Yeah, whilst I commend your dedication to fighting the good fight against sexism, I just don't think this is the right battle.
If dressing up in lingerie was sexist then I'm not sure sales of lingerie would be particularly high.
It's not really titillating, in fact I'm not sure what it is really. It's some riders wearing lingerie, in the great tradition of slightly crap calendars we seem to enjoy having.