As Audre Lorde once said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” In a world that constantly tries to control our bodies, finding joy in our own autonomy as women, queer folks, and people of color is a radical act. One way to reclaim our bodily autonomy and experience radical joy is through pleasure activism, and bikes can be a powerful tool for this.
Pleasure activism recognizes that our bodies are valuable, deserving of care and pleasure, and that joy is a powerful tool for creating change. Radical joy is about finding and celebrating joy and pleasure amid struggle and adversity. It is about challenging the dominant narrative that says we should only experience pleasure in specific, narrow ways and instead create our own definition of pleasure rooted in our desires and experiences.
In all my years of cycling, I didn’t realize that bikes equipped me with direct actions of resistance and joy, which is pleasure activism. Embracing this understanding through reading the works of Adrienne Maree Brown’s book, “Pleasure Activism,” and Sonya Renee Taylor’s book, “The Body Is Not An Apology,” helped me to embrace joy in my bodies pleasure in riding, the creative process of zine making, and collaborating with the global cycling community to share stories of our resistance for climate justice and challenging the dominant narratives and value systems in a patriarchal culture that permeates cycling.
I believe that biking truly is a tool of bodily autonomy and mobility. Biking allows us to move our bodies freely and experience the world around us in a way that is not possible in a car or on public transit. When we ride a bike, we control our own movement, which can be incredibly empowering. We can choose our own routes, set our own pace, and stop whenever we want. This sense of freedom and autonomy is especially important for those who navigate a world that often tries to control our bodies and limit our mobility.
Biking can also be a way to advocate for bodily autonomy and challenge dominant narratives around gender and sexuality. For example, the group Red Bike and Green is an organization that promotes biking as a way to empower Black communities and challenge racist systems of oppression. By creating a space for Black joy and solidarity through biking, Red Bike and Green is using pleasure activism to push back against the ways in which Black bodies are policed and controlled.
Similarly, the group Ovarian Psycos uses biking to reclaim public space and promote reproductive justice. One of the ways that Ovarian Psyco Cycles advocates for bodily autonomy and radical joy is through their annual “Clitoral Mass” bike ride. The ride celebrates bodies and joy that draws hundreds of participants worldwide. The ride is explicitly feminist and anti-oppressive, focusing on creating a safe and inclusive space for all women, trans, and gender non-conforming individuals.
Finally, biking can be a way to experience bike medicine and the joy of being in our bodies and connecting with the natural world. Whether riding through a city park or along a country road, biking allows us to experience the world in a way that is impossible from inside a car. We can feel the wind on our faces, smell the flowers and trees around us, and connect with the physical sensations of our own bodies. This embodied experience of joy is a powerful reminder that our bodies are our own and that we have the right to experience pleasure and autonomy. And when we love ourselves, we can love the land that inspires our direct action to ride for climate justice.
In conclusion, biking can be a powerful tool for pleasure activism and a way to reclaim our bodily autonomy with community in a world that often tries to control us. By using bikes to promote joy, solidarity, and bodily autonomy, we can challenge dominant narratives around gender, race, and sexuality and create a more just and equitable world that is trying to suppress our values. By pedaling towards bike joy, we are not only taking care of ourselves but also engaging in a radical act of resistance against systems of oppression that seek to control us and the land. So, let’s ride on toward a more just and joyful world!