Maya Hansen at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week — Madrid
Valentine’s Day…
Have you noticed that Barbie beauty standards have wormed their thick smoky eye shadow and shimmering red lip gloss way into the world of motorcycling?
It’s true, companies use scantily clad women in sexy poses, draped over the fuel tank to sell motorcycles.
Clearly, the advertisers think if you’re a male in the market for a motorcycle, then a woman fixing her hair and makeup in the chrome reflection, while wearing lingerie, a bikini or underwear is as important as the size of — the engine combustion chamber. It’s the kind of situation in the dealer showroom one could only hope to find oneself in when purchasing a motorcycle.
Right?
We’ve all seen these so-called “perfect biker babes.” They strap themselves into black leather bras, lean forward and pout with cherry red lipstick. When they disembark the motorcycle they shake out bouncy platinum hair, adjust their cleavage and scan the area for a Glamour photographer in hopes of a modeling contract without even smudging their red lipstick.
Maya Hansen Clothing Line and NZI Helmets
Let’s transport back to the real world.
Photographers from Glamour are nowhere to be seen. Because in reality, most women don’t spend much time draped across a fuel tank semi-clothed on a random motorcycle. Especially if there’s a camera around. In all my years of riding, I’ve never seen a woman get off a motorcycle, shake out her hair, and be offered a modeling contract!
Breaking the stereotype — nobody looks twice when they see a woman riding a motorcycle these days. Women don’t want to be objectified for any purpose and especially not for hawking a motorcycle. The public’s perception that motorcycle riders are predominately male is ‘long gone.’
In fact, according to a 2018 national survey by the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), they found that among all age groups, women make up 19 percent of motorcycle owners, compared with less than 10 percent less than a decade ago. The survey found even greater ownership among younger generations. With Millennials, 26 percent of motorcycle owners were women. Among Gen X, 22 percent were women.
Advertising sells products, but the ridiculousness of women draped over, like melted candle wax, awkwardly positioned a-top a motorcycle – is perhaps an easy way to grab attention to try and sell something – it’s not necessarily the best approach.
For equality, here is a similar motorcycle photoshoot, but with “perfect” men.
Photos courtesy YouMotorcycle, Maya Hansen and NZI Helmets. Photos taken at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week — Madrid, Spain.
Disclaimer: As I’m sure you can imagine, the internet knows no mercy when you misstep to be a perfect model of a human. I mean no disrespect if you are, or are not perfect and certainly not looking for a stampede of angry followers accusing me of being tone deaf for the sake of generating clicks. If you ask, I’ll candidly admit that I don’t have a clue about “What Women Want” when it comes to fashion.
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