Techno-aesthetic gendered bicycle-cyclist assemblages in Brussels: qualitative interviews, situated statistics and multifactor analysis

Drawing on work on mobilities, material culture, visual sociology and the gender of objects, this article proposes to analyse the current tensions in the relationship to cycling equipment in Brussels public space. In particular, between the dominant norms of ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ and the emerging values of cycling as a symbol and vector of an alternative, sustainable society that challenges adherence to traditional gender roles and patriarchal division of labour. We conducted interviews with professionals from cycling sector to gather their performative discourses concerning gender norms in cycling in Brussels. From a mobile video-ethnography, we took screenshots of cyclists in the Brussels public space. This method aims to capture the gender performance of cyclists in their daily mobilities using situated statistics to analyse a wide range of visual indicators, through descriptive and factor analysis to report on the relationships of proximity (congruency) and distance (opposition) between different objects and positioning. If the techno-aesthetic gendered bicycle-cyclist assemblages are still mostly marked by stereotypes, new emerging practices transform the bicycle’s materiality at the margin or in rupture with the dominant standards.