Sexualisation, misogyny and social media - How online platforms are failing female cyclists

A general view of the women's peloton competing while fans cheer during the Tour of Flanders 2023 (Image credit: Getty Images)

First off, I would just like to issue a trigger warning for sexual harassment, if this is something you feel is an unsafe topic for you, please skip this piece. However, there are support links you can skip to at the bottom if you feel you could benefit from such services.

Around this time last year, while mindlessly searching the internet like the millennial-Gen Z cusp that I am, I happened to stumble across a Reddit feed that, at first glance, seemed to be a cycling fan page dedicated to posting photos of female cyclists: exposure and support of women's cycling being something I can happily endorse, I thought it was a positive occurrence. I’m glad to see such pages.

While skimming through on auto-pilot, I noticed that I was actually featured on this feed: as a rider who’s been based only in the UK with minimal exposure to the wider world of cycling at the time, I found this particularly odd. I don’t have a huge social media following like some of the riders I saw either, so I felt I was a niche option for cycling fans. But again, I do sometimes get fans coming up to me while racing in the UK and mainland Europe so it’s not totally unheard of, and exposure on a personal level is also good for me. I continued on.

While searching through, I saw photos that, at the time, were from a recent photo shoot in London that I had modelled in, and one of the users of this Reddit feed had placed them on the page. Initially, I thought, legally, they’d just stolen some photos that don’t belong to them, nor to me. Intrigued and somewhat annoyed that legal rules had not been followed, I scrolled deeper, hyper-focusing on what was now on my screen. What I found was simply sickening.

After a full-on deep dive, I found that this cycling Reddit feed, which moderators have since taken down, rated and commented on the looks of female cyclists. People (who remain anonymous on the platform thanks to made-up usernames) had taken photos from social media platforms as well as from race photographers and proceeded to post them on this Reddit feed purely to discuss our looks and what they’d “do to”’ us. It goes without saying that this is not the sort of exposure or ‘support’ I can get behind - but sadly, the content I found on this feed gets worse.

One member had even posted a now-deleted video of themselves doing something unspeakable with their appendage over a photo of a female rider that they had on their phone screen. I’m not even kidding, this feed got really dark, really fast. This particular video was met with support from the other users in the comments below. I nearly threw up after one glance. Utterly disgusted, it was at this point I knew that I had to personally speak up, so I took to Twitter to explain the situation and ask for advice on what to do as someone who does not use Reddit: reporting problematic material wasn’t made as obvious as it is on other websites.

The aftermath

Luckily, I had a lot of support from the wonderful cycling community on Twitter, and we eventually got this particular feed taken down. But, even though I complained and reported the page directly to Reddit, explaining I was in the photos and did not consent to this, my complaint disappointingly had no effect as days started to pass: it took the owner of the photos from the photo shoot threatening legal action to get these photos of me removed. This wasn’t a fast process either. Within the time it took to do so, I experienced nightmares over the comments and a trauma response that took me back to a very debilitating encounter when I was a child.

To say that I was relieved when these photos were taken down and this feed eventually ceased to exist was an understatement. I felt lighter, and the anxiety this ordeal caused melted away. I felt like I could finally move on and try to forget about this crazy situation. It really did make me feel so unclean and uncomfortable reading the demeaning comments about my body and looks, as well as those of women I know and respect within the sport. Discussing our personal lives and who we’d be connected to sexually. Even though I felt better overall, something still bothered me: That question still stuck: “Why?”

As this seemed to have been dealt with, I carried on like it was just another unnerving experience that women face day in and day out (why do we do this?), not giving too much thought to the incident. Every now and then, my focus danced on the thought that someone out there thinks these degrading thoughts about you; and you have no idea who it is because it’s all anonymous. They are allowed to remain anonymous. They could be someone you know and trust, but you wouldn’t have a clue. This person might be close enough to you to act on what they say. I tried to override these racing-anxiety-fueled thoughts with the tactics I learnt during CBT, the success rate was manageable, but it still didn’t quash how I felt.

But some months later, it came to my attention that another similar feed had popped up on Reddit again. This time, with a different name but the same premise: take photos from female riders' accounts and discuss their personal lives, bodies and sex appeal. I was featured heavily once again, with tags such as ‘booty’, ‘face’ and ‘body’ coupled with the photos. My stomach dropped, and I was overcome with sadness and rage.

During this time, people contacted me, saying they personally knew some of the riders who were featured. Some were apparently even young teenagers: a thought that made me utterly sick to my stomach as it should everyone else. Then among my messages of support, a very brave younger rider reached out to me, Femke Gort. She told me she had experienced this before and was glad someone was finally speaking up about it.

The feed eventually got taken down, and since then, I haven't seen another crop up. But Reddit was useless in helping me directly, clearly overlooking that Rules 1 and Rules 3 of their Content Policy were broken on numerous occasions by these feeds. The clothing company that organised the photoshoot threatened legal action, and this was the only reason the feed was taken down, highlighting Reddit may see it as a legal and not moral issue. Clearly, this points towards the greater societal issue of attitudes towards sexual harassment. Something we all know due to recent events in the UK can turn violent if left unchallenged.

I contacted Reddit directly, outlining this recurring issue and asking what they would do about it to ensure that it doesn’t happen again and that their guidelines are followed. But they never responded. Of course, I am very disappointed that they didn’t give me the answers I was looking for, but I’m not at all shocked: women’s issues and safety are still seen as trivial by big media companies, and it’s just unacceptable. Do better, Reddit.

I spoke with Femke, the Dutch under-23 cyclocross and road rider who reached out to me about her experiences after I posted about this feed. At only 19, she’s already faced a lot of harassment which started for her at only 17 years of age. I was sickened to hear this could happen to such a young person and wanted to give her the space to tell her story of what she faces on a daily basis as a young woman trying to pursue her dreams.

She explained to me: “Almost daily, I get comments about my appearance on the social media platforms I'm most active on - Instagram and Tiktok. A couple are purely negative, and I try not to read them and know that the people commenting are not people I would listen to anyway. The worst are comments, always from men, that sexualise me. They might not mean it negatively, but they always come across as downgrading and disgusting. Never have I asked for this or given the slightest signal that I was keen on receiving comments like this, but still, every week, I get multiple comments. This varies from being in my comments or in my direct messages.”

She continued to speak about her in-person experiences: “Occasionally, I get a comment such as ‘if she rides her bike, she must be good at riding something else..’ or a comment about how strong my glutes must be. Also, a couple of cycling fans wanting pictures with me has been a bit uncomfortable. Most cases were probably innocent for the fans, but being held very tight and close during a pic, a much older fan giving me a kiss on my cheek without my permission and getting compliments about my looks, which is sweet but irrelevant at races.”

Interacting in such a way is, of course, absolutely not acceptable. Femke is a very talented young woman who just wants to enjoy her sport and use social media - like any other teenager - yet can’t even promote herself and her cycling endeavours to increase her value as a rider to bigger prospective teams without getting outright disgusting comments. These aren’t just one-offs either, it’s time and time again. Is this how we want our sport's young women to be treated? No. I would hate to think that someone as talented as Femke might feel uncomfortable just participating in her sport due to the sexualisation she faces, and at only 19.

These are the concerns that genuinely cross her mind: “It made me sad to the point I was even stressed to go to races, and I avoided being in public at the races cause there was a chance that something would make me uncomfortable, and I knew I would not say anything but then regret that later and feel bad about feeling bad. But I love people, and I love the fans and people who love cycling. I love making jokes with people, and I appreciate the support so much, I just started to avoid it because there would be people that made me uncomfortable. I knew if I said something, they would get defensive or take it the wrong way, so I’d rather say nothing and avoid the contact.”

Femke also later added that she had experienced viewing content of a man doing something with his appendage onto a photo of her when she was only 17. She had no idea this was happening until friends made her aware. She told me that this made her feel deeply “ashamed.” But since she’s got older, she rightly realises: “That I am the victim and have nothing to be ashamed about.” Because she absolutely should not be ashamed, but far too often, victims of sexual harassment feel obliged to keep it in, not open up in fear of being seen as trouble or attention seeking, which is the ideal breeding ground for shame. But it’s not OK. A 17-year-old is a child. We have to do better in protecting them. This isn’t just a one-off either: how many other teenagers and women is this happening to, not just in cycling, but in the outer world?

Speaking from a personal perspective, this behaviour is worrying and concerning. In another incident that is unrelated to the Reddit threads, and as aforementioned, when I was 14, I was stalked by a man who would follow me around bike races posing as an enthusiastic cycling fan and proceed to tell my parents that he would ‘find out’ where we lived. It got so bad that the police had to get involved.

The most concerning part about this was when the police spoke with the man, he absolutely did not see the issue with his behaviour towards me, a child. He felt it was entirely appropriate and that he was faultless to pursue me in such a way. However, I will never forget the fear and angst I felt when I saw him at a race. It got so bad that I even had to resort to hiding in a women's toilet before one of my races when I should’ve been preparing because he just would not leave me alone.

The worst of it is I know other young teenage girls that he tried to approach and follow around. This is unacceptable behaviour, and I hate to think of what may have been if the police had not been as responsive and supportive as they were. Something I am immensely grateful for. This behaviour is, of course, parallel with what Femke has experienced, and it’s just not acceptable, nor should we stand for it.

The bottom line is that this Reddit page made me feel a similar way, even ten years on from this trauma. They take me back to feeling like a helpless child who was scared and didn’t feel safe just by participating in my sport. Thankfully, I have the support of friends and those close to me, but abuse towards women appears to be at an all-time high. We need to look out for one another and challenge any inappropriate behaviour we witness. But not all women have that, not everyone has access to the support and care of others when going through such events.

From this, I think we can all learn to be a lending hand to those who face online abuse of any kind. No matter who that person is - or their background, race, beliefs, gender identity, sexuality or nationality - we all need to make space for each other to feel supported and safe. I know cycling has advanced drastically regarding sexism and the sport’s response to it in the last ten years or so, but we need to keep progressing.

The biggest heartfelt thank you to my Twitter cycling community, who did back me up and went after these anonymous harassers. Collectively you’ve all proved how far cycling has come in the last decade. So many of you and from so many different backgrounds spoke up, not just for me but for the other women featured who may not have even realised this was happening or that they were being subjected to such behaviour.

Last but not least, thank you to Josh Croxton and Kirsten Frattini at Cyclingnews for letting me take a stand and talk about this issue, including my own personal experiences. I feel empowered and hugely appreciative that you’ve allowed me the safe space and a platform to raise awareness of this continued sexual harassment towards women in our sport and outer society. It has to stop, and we no longer have to grow thicker skin or suck it up: absolutely not. We deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully, as do other discriminated groups, including men.

Cyclingnews reached out to Reddit for comment regarding the allegations of sexual harassment in relation to the two threads titled: femcyclists and womencyclists. In addition, Cyclingnews asked how Reddit monitors these kinds of threads and what the procedure is to have them removed; how its Content Policy is enforced; what happens to users if they are found to breach the policy (such as in this case); how can Reddit prevent them from starting a new thread under a new account; why Reddit did not respond to the original correspondence to have the threads removed; and why it took so long and require such drastic action to get the threads removed? However, Reddit did not respond prior to the publishing of this story.