Customer Reviews

Bike Lust: Harleys, Women, and American Society

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Don't be fooled by the title of this dull book. It offers neither "lust" nor insight into what is a very interesting subject---women Harley riders. We may speculate about why someone would write such a book, possibly to exercize the author's ego or to fullfill some requirment to "publish or perish". But why would anyone read this one?

I bought the book with high hopes because I'm interested in the subject: women who ride big motorcycles. The book is really a cheap exploitation of people's interest in a "trendy" subject. The only real insights are those the author quotes from other books on the subject. The endless interviews with members of Harley-Davidson clubs are tedious and cover no new ground. Most strange is the author's glib treatment of the racism and antisemitism of some riders, as displayed by wearing of swastikas and making racist comments. Her analysis only goes so deep as to state that since most of "working class" white America is racist, why shouldn't Harley riders be? This is both an insult to working class Americans as well as to the reader's intelligence. I hope that this kind of crude apologism for racism is not widespread in anthropology, the discipline in which the author has her degree. Given the shallow analysis in the book, the author's gimmicky claim to be a rider herself is suspect and I wondered after reading it if she got most of her information from biker magazines.

...this shouldn't be it. As a woman, I agree that someone ought to write a book about this subject, but Joans hasn't done it justice. She admits speaking with only one "Biker Chick" (author's caps) and nevertheless produces a whole slew of generalizations--based on what? Observation without interview doesn't make anthropology. Many premises are established (shakily) and then contradicted only pages later. Apparently she "interviewed" a bunch of her friends, threw together some poorly supported conclusions and wound up with this book. The scholarship is too poor to make it an academic work, and there aren't enough good stories to make it a general interest work. Save your money, or read The Perfect Vehicle instead.

This was an informative and enjoyable book, especially for the targeted audience. As an earlier reviewer wrote, it is not a scholarly treatise with data, so if you're an academic looking for such, you'll be disappointed. But for the motorcyclist and passenger, especially the Harley owner, it's a good read. Basically, the female author offers her opinions on Harley owners and passengers, based on her fairly recent involvement in the lifestyle. She categorizes and describes both male and female enthusiasts. Being female, and since females constitute most of the passengers and are such statistical outliers as riders, the author spends most of her time on female related issues. Her anecdotes, and those of the females she interviewed, of their riding experiences are both informative and entertaining. As a fairly recent Harley owner, I really benefitted from her insights, and I recommend the book to all my riding friends, especially the females.

BIKE LUST is a unique, forceful and informative ethnography in which Barbara Joans takes the reader inside the minds and hearts of an emergent, important and incompletely understood American subculture. She tells much of this story in the language and with the forcefulness of a cultural insider.
I know of no account of Harley culture like it. The examples are clear and cleanly and drawn, not only in the manner of a professional anthropologist but also as a storyteller with a sharp ear for language.
Joans comes to the task with particularly apt credentials, and the originality of her technique illuminates the character of the group she represents. An accomplished anthropologist with an established reputation in the field, Joans
has not written simply an anthropologist's monograph, but by adopting the voice of her study population, she brings the reader inside the community; she makes the events and the people come alive. This combining professional precision with subcultural patoise, enhances the portrayal. You find yourself seeing through biker's eyes, hearing and absorbing biker terminology and world view, and feeling the clamminess of water-soaked clothing after a stormy night's ride.
Because of Joans' highly accessible style, often invisible prose, and the intrinsic interest of the material, the work will have broad appeal. "Bike Lust" should find extensive readership among the general public because of its readability,
and because of the adventures it recounts. A significant part of Joans' contribution to this literature is her use of both masculine and feminine perspectives in equally engaging ways. For this reason it might be argued that Joans' work is the first effectively ethnographic study of this subculture.

The author, Barbara Joans, is an anthropologist in Oakland California, originally from New York, and rides a Harley-Davidson Low Rider. This book, published in 2001, is a kind of anthropological look at Harley riders, both men and women (her main concern, as the subtitle shows, is with women), and the variety of viewpoints and value judgments within the Harley culture. A lot of the book is reporting on conversations Joans had with Harley riders (men and women) and passengers (women), but she doesn't exclude writing about her own views or experiences. She has found or created a collection of categories through which she classifies everyone in the Harley culture, and this may help some readers, or may seem misguided.

The people she spoke with, of course, had their own sense of identity and of how they viewed others associated in one way or another with Harley-Davidson. As is typical in any culture or sub-culture there are those who want everyone to be the same, meaning exactly like themselves, all others being viewed as inauthentic to some degree. They judge others by a personal checklist of attitudes, experiences, and skills which they associate with the authentic biker and which they themselves have acquired over the course of their riding life, disdaining those riders who do not seem to aspire with the same vigor (or not to aspire at all) to those same attitudes, experiences, and skills. The pinnacle of authenticity, for some riders, is the outlaw biker. For others, it is a few degrees less volatile. Everyone seems to agree that independence, integrity, devotion, and passion are key characteristics of a true biker. Without these, one isn't even a motorcycle enthusiast. The difference between those who see their motorcycle as transportation (like a car or truck) and those who see it as recreation (like a boat or snowmobile) is, I think, relevant.

Joans focuses her attention (she may have not thought the distinction was important; I do) on people who routinely participate in group runs and events (including group camping during a run, the "biker bar", and social rallies) and whose self-identity is based as much upon that ongoing fact of their riding life as upon their relation to a particular H-D bike. It is this collective behavior and how individuals define and describe themselves within it that Joans, as an anthropologist, has reported upon in her book.

This book is about identity and the various Harley sub-cultures. It has little to say about metric cruisers, sport-tourers, or any other type of motorcycling.

It is not a textbook. It is for riders or wanna-be riders. It is for fun, for personal enjoyment.

And I did enjoy the book. It helped me learn that I should not waste money on a Harley when I replace my metric cruiser. Apparently I belong with the sport touring folks who wear high-visibility protective gear and top-of-the-line full face helmets by choice, not law.

I enjoyed the book, although the author's opinion of helmet comfort is misinformed and probably based on ill-fitting headgear.

I know I don't want to be part of the culture she describes, but I recommend the book. I disagree with her on many points, but I recommend this book. It's really a treat to read.

Joans has produced a unique, forceful and informative ethnography in which she takes the reader inside the minds and hearts of an emergent, important and underreported American subculture. Joans has supplied this missing study with the language and forcefulness of a cultural insider. There is no other account like it. The accounts are clear and cleanly and drawn, not only in the manner of a professional anthropologist but as a storyteller with a sharp ear for language. Joans comes to the task with particularly apt credentials and the originality of her technique illunminates the uniqueness of the group she studied. This is in many ways an amazing work. Joans, an accomplished anthropologist with an established reputation in the field, has not simply written an anthropologist's monograph but by adoping the authorial voice of her study population she places the reader inside that population. She makes events and people come alive. This act in itself, combining professional precision with subcultural slang, is badly needed in anthropological accounts. While reading the book, instead of feeling like a dispassionate observer one finds oneself seeing through biker's eyes, hearing and absorbing biker terminology and feeling the clamminess of water-soaked clothing after a stormy ride. Because of her highly accessible style and the intrinsic interest of the material, the work will have broad appeal. It will find extensive readership among the general public because of its readability and because of the adventures it recounts. A significant part of Joans' contribution to this literature is her use of both masculine and feminine perspectives in equally engaging ways. For this reason it might be argued that Joans' work is the first real study of this subculture.

Riveting. Reading the profiles of the different types of male and female personalities that ride motorcycles became so fascinating that I couldn't put the book down. Dr. Joans presents the profiles so well that one enjoys reading as much as if one were reading a number one best-selling novel. The book presents factual information with a unique, fluid and vivid use of the written word. I simply couldn't put the book down until I was finished with it. Once finished with it, I longed for more. I just couldn't get enough. One hopes there will be a sequel into the world of these fascinating people, each so very different, yet each tied by a love to ride big motorcycles.