Bible Chpt No.5

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[center][font=times new roman][size=24pt][color=grey]Chapter No.5: Miscellaneous[/color][/size][/font][/center]

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[font=impact][size=20pt][color=black][u]The Role of Women in Real Life Motorcycle Club's Culture[/u][/color][/size][/font]

Female bikers may have different perceptions or understandings of the subculture compared to those of men. Natalier (2001) studied risk and motorcycling. She noted that men and women describe the experience of motorcycling with similar terms and language. She found that men did not use terms of dominance and aggression to describe their riding experiences, as had been reported by previous studies of sports culture. Rather, she found that women, as well as men, described their motorcycling as a cooperative experience between the rider and the machine. Since ideas and meanings are constructed at the base level (phenomenology), men and women may have different expectations and therefore different definitions. Especially when it comes to motorcycling, each gender will have socialized expectations specific to gender. Thus, if masculine expectations are generally riskier, they are likely to participate more often in actions that lead to more injuries, death, and hospitalization than woman experience (Natalier 2001, National Health and Medical Research Council 1997).

Historically, women have been viewed as inferior in status relative to men within motorcycle culture. Quinn (1987) argues that men in these clubs spend most of their time with their cohorts or performing club duties. They rely on women to be the provider of financial income. Often, women in these relationships do not have autonomy or individual control over their own finances, and are expected to give their men money on a daily basis. Since this amount may vary from around $50 to a $100, they often have to resort to prostitution to make ends meet. Should a woman choose to be deceptive and caught, she is often met with physical punishment such as rape or a beating. This limits her economic autonomy. Therefore, for a motorcycle club to employ its women, it may acquire ownership of business such as massage parlors or topless bars. Women in these clubs have several statuses and positions within the club; from ol' ladies, to mamas, sweetbutts, and broads (Librett 2008). Ol ‘ladies are women who are in long-term committed relationships, such as wives or long-term girlfriends (Quinn 1987). They are protected by a property patch that they wear. These patches are ones that their ol' men purchase for them. Mamas are women who may be discarded ol ‘ladies or close companions to male club members (Quinn 1987). They are club property and protected by the club so long as they are willing to give their services to any club member. Often they are younger than ol' ladies and cannot compete with them in the prostitution market. Quinn (1987) continues to describe the different labels and their statuses with sweetbutts. Sweetbutts are regular sex or income partners for male outlaw bikers. Unlike ol' ladies, they are not patched and are free game for any men of clubs to interact with. Sweetbutts are not owned by the club as a unit. Rather, they associate with one or a few members at a time rather than to the unit as a whole.

Finally, Librett describes the status label of women that he terms "broads." Broads are not united with the club in the ways mamas are (Librett 2008). They may be randomly put into subjugation or abuse by anyone within the club. Since definitions of these terms originate from Quinn (1987) and Librett (2008), it is unclear whether sweetbutts and broads refer to the same type of women with altering labels. Quinn is the only one who uses the term sweetbutts while Librett is the only one who uses the term broads. Women in these clubs often stay in relationships with men for a short period of a few years. Due to the spurious economic conditions of the club and its mobility, relationships face several challenges. For men, it takes more work to keep a relationship going than it does to sell off one woman for another. Quinn (1987) explains that women may escape the harsh realities of prostitution by taking jobs with law enforcement agencies as informants. They may work as clerks or receptionists that can provide information or documents for the club. Clubhouses may be put into a state of infiltration by outlaw motorcycle gangs. Rivals may rape women in the presence of those in their clubhouse who vow to protect them. The goal of the rival gangs in these situations is not to have power over women, but to show psychological dominance over men (Quinn 1987). Opponents can overpower clubhouse members and place them into a state of embarrassment. However, not all research on women in motorcycle subculture reports their role as characterized by patriarchal submission—some highlight women’s autonomy and personal agency. Glamser (2003) explains that women riders often come to learn about bikes through interactions with men. In a study of 53 women motorcycle riders, 49 of them identified spouses, boyfriends, or fathers as the person who initiated them into the culture of motorcycle riding. For the women who ride on their own, a little less than half of them reported that it was nothing special in comparison to men who ride (Glamser 2003). They felt that they were treated equally by men and that sex had nothing to do with the experience of motorcycle riding. A little over half of the women in this study found their riding experience to be special as a woman, saying they were able to be liberated from the role of a wife or mother or caregiver when they rode. Finally, for some women, a motor provided them a sense of accomplishment. Due to restrictions on height and weight, they were able to accomplish conquering a large machine that is usually only handled by men. Hopper and Moore (1990) studied the position of women in outlaw biker gangs for 17 years. They report that women had much more freedom in sexual expression in the 1960s than they did in the 1980s. They observe that there is a shift in organizational goals of motorcycle clubs. Bikers no longer focus on sex as being something fun or for gratification. Rather, sex has transformed into something that was about status and brotherhood. If men had sex with women in certain ways, being part of a train that was pulled (a group sexual act whereby multiple members of a motorcycle club have sex with the same woman to punish her), they showed their willingness and commitment to conform and obey the club's normative rules. According to Hopper and Moore (1990), there is a transition of the amount of freedom and control women have both over their selves and over their wages from the 1960’s to the 1980’s. In the 1960's women’s position of power, their roles within and outside of the club, and their overall control of their selves depended on the choice of each individual male partner they had. Women could have some control over their wages and their selves if their man let them. There is a change to this by the end of the 1980's.

A transformation occurred both in the role of sex in motorcycle gangs and in the focus of motorcycle gangs’ organizational structure. Before the 1980’s, sex was something that biker-men participated in with women for fun or gratification. By the late 1980’s, sex became a means to an end and a way for one brother to show his status off to his other brothers within the gang. As motorcycle gangs became concerned with money, they became more complex organizations with both illegal and legal sources of income (Hopper and Moore 1990; McGuire 1986). Through this shift, women no longer joked about sex. They lost all their power and say over their selves as men became preoccupied with their organization’s success. Their position was solidified as inferior to men. Mitchell Jr. and Kubein (2009) reflect upon Kubein's experience growing up with the Hell's Angels as her surrogate family. In contrast to Hopper and Moore's study and Glamser's findings, they show exceptions to how women are treated in outlaw motorcycle clubs. Kubein describes that she was treated with respect and love by the men of the club. She details that during the beginning of the 1970's, the Hell's Angels motorcycle club endured a transformation. They transitioned from being a club that considered respect to be one of its fundamental philosophies to putting fear and violence first. The president of the club, who was a father-figure to her, suggested she leave before she got caught in the violence. In order to escape these conditions, Kubein exited the club along with her daughter in the late seventies. She went on to pursue other interests such as the start of a gardening business. In this study, I locate the types of power that both women and men have in the subculture of motorcycling. I attempt to understand self and identity processes in relation to motorcycling for all respondents. I ask them questions that focus on their motivations for becoming interested in motorcycles in the first place, their desires to continue motorcycling throughout their lives, and their reasons for purchasing or riding the current bikes that they do. These questions serve to locate different times in respondent’s life where aspects of their self-were influenced or changed.

[right][i][size=8pt]Source: [url=https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1237&context=etds]Making Sense Of Motorcycle Brotherhood: Women, Branding, And Construction Of Self.[/url][/size][/i][/right]

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[font=impact][size=20pt][color=black][u]Endnotes For The Previous Chapter[/u][/color][/size][/font]

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[li]Works exploring the warring factions include Paradis, Lavigne, Valentine, Mayson, and Wethern. On media portrayals see Barger, Zimmerman, & Zimmerman, and Thompson. On myths see Reynolds and Yates. See Watson, Wolf, and Posnansky on motorcycle club culture.[/li]
[li]The author is a lifelong motorcyclist who rides a 1953 Harley-Davidson FLE (a.k.a. Panhead) and has been an active member of an outlaw motorcycle club for the past eight years.[/li]
[li]See http://www.outlawsmc.com/history.[/li]
[li]Certain members of the Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington were later to splinter off and form the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.[/li]
[li]See Valentine as an exemplar of such incomplete histories.[/li]
[li]The Boozefighters reformed in 1995 with the consent of Wino Willie Forkner and other original members of the organization (Boozefighters).[/li]
[li]See Seate for a detailed analysis of these and other biker-related films.[/li]
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[font=impact][size=20pt][color=black][u]Works Cited For The Previous Chapter[/u][/color][/size][/font]

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[li]Addams, Charles. Letter. [i]Life[/i]. 11 Aug. 1947: 7. [/li]
[li]American Psychological Association (APA). [i]Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III)[/i]. New York: American Psychological Association, 1980. [/li]
[li]Aretakis, Nick. "Life and Death at Altamont." Pop Politic.com. 2000. <http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2000-11-18-shelter.shtml>[/li]
[li]Barger, Ralph, Keith Zimmerman, and Kent Zimmerman. [i]Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club[/i]. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.[/li]
[li]Brokaw, Paul. Letter. Life. 11 Aug. 1947: 7.[/li]
[li]Ciacchi, Mark S. "Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and the American Vets." Vet Extra 12 (2003): 10-11.[/li]
[li]Cuff, Michael. "1932 Peashooter: A One-of-a-kind, Factory-built, Hillclimbing Harley." [i]American Iron[/i] May 2004: 229.[/li]
[li]Dregni, Michael, ed. [i]This Old Harley: The Ultimate Tribute to the World's Greatest Motorcycle[/i]. Stillwater: Voyageur, 2000. [/li]
[li]Dulaney, William L. "Moving Forward with Visual Symbols, Looking Back at Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs." National Communication Association. Chicago. Oct. 2004.[/li]
[li]Hayes, Bill. [i]The Original Wild Ones: Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club[/i]. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 2005.
"Hells Angels MC World." Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. 2005 <http://www.hells-angels.com> [/li]
[li]Hill, Kari and Harvey Langholtz. "Rehabilitation Programs for African Child Soldiers." [i]Peace Review[/i] 15:3 (2003): 279-285.
"History of the Rally." Hollister Independence Rally Committee. 2005 <http://www.hollisterrally.com/about_hirc.htm>.[/li]
[li]Kanas, Nick. "Group Therapy for Patients with Chronic Trauma-related Stress Disorders." International Journal of Group Psychotherapy 55:1 (2005): 161-165.[/li]
[li]Kolb, Richard K. "Korea and Vietnam: Comparing Participants and Casualties." Veterans of Foreign Wars June/July 2003: 21-23.[/li]
[li]Lindsay, Tom. Letter to the author. 11 October 2005. "Motorcycle Gangs." Southeast Gang Activity Center. 2005
<http://www.segag.org/ganginfo/frmcgang.html>.[/li]
[li]National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (NCPTSD). "Facts about PTSD." NCPTSD Website. 24 October 2012 <http://www.ptsd.va.org>.[/li]
[li]Nye, Peter J. [i]Hearts of Lions: The Story of American Bicycle Racing[/i]. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.[/li]
[li]Orford, Judith. "Are We Effective in Treating PTSD?" British Journal of Occupational Therapy 62:7 (1999): 336.[/li]
[li]Ouimette, Paige, Keith Humphreys, Rudolf H. Moos, John W. Finney, Ruth Cronkite, and Belle Federman. "Self-help Group Participation among Substance Use Disorder Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder." Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 20:1 (2001): 25-32.[/li]
[li]"Outlaws MC (Est. 1935): 70 Years Strong." Outlaws MC United States. History. 2005 <http://www.outlawsmc.com/history.html>.[/li]
[li]Page, Victor W. [i]Motorcycles and Side Cars: Construction, Management, Repair[/i]. New York: Norman W. Henley Publishing Co., 1920. [/li]
[li]Paradis, Peter. [i]Nasty Business: One Biker Gang's Bloody War against the Hell's Angels[/i]. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2002.[/li]
[li]Perry, David B. [i]Bike Cult: The Ultimate Guide to Human-Powered Vehicles[/i]. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1995.[/li]
[li]Pigot, John. [i]Leatherbred Heroes: The Vietnam Veterans' Motorcycle Club[/i]. Australia: ArtsVictoria, 2000.[/li]
[li]Posnansky, Garry R. "Communication and the Counterculture: An Ethnographic Analysis of Communication Use in the Motorcycle Gang." Diss. The Florida State University, 1988.[/li]
[li]Reynolds, Tom. [i]Wild Ride: How Outlaw Motorcycle Myth Conquered America[/i]. New York: TV Books, 2000.[/li]
[li]Sucher, Harry V. [i]The Iron Redskin. Newbury Park: Haynes, 1977.[/i][/li]
[li]Syder, Andrew. "Ripped from Today's Headlines: The Outlaw Biker Movie Cycle." Scope: An On-line Journal of Film Studies, Institute of Film Studies, Nottingham University, United Kingdom. 2002 <http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film>. [/li]
[li]"The History of the AMA." American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). 21 May 2005 <http://www.amadirectlink.com/whatis/history.asp>.
Thompson, Hunter S. Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. New York: Ballantine, 1966.[/li]
[li]Valentine, Bill. Gang Intelligence Manual: Identifying and Understanding Modern-day Violent Gangs in the United States. Boulder, CO: Paladin, 1995.[/li]
[li]Watson, J. Mark. "Outlaw Motorcyclists: An Outgrowth of Lower Class Cultural Concerns." Deviant Behavior. Ed. D. H. Kelly. 4th ed.. New York: St. Martin's, 1993.[/li]
[li]Wolf, Daniel R. The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers. Toronto: Unversity of Toronto, 1991. [/li]
[li]Wynn, Keenan. Letter. Life. 11 Aug. 1947: 7. [/li]
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