“I was expecting it to be a bit bigger. The bikes were pretty good actually, maybe even better than the women,” Kevin, Auckland
As defined by my good friend Wikipedia: “Boobs on Bikes is a mostly annual parade of semi-nude porn stars riding on motorcycles through large New Zealand cities”
This year, I unwittingly attended the Boobs on Bikes parade in Auckland. Not wanting to expose ourselves as the clueless tourists we were, my partner and I chose not to ask any of the hundreds of people crowding around Queen Street what they were waiting for, instead we joined the crowd with cameras at the ready.
Through the middle of the crowd came a group of protestors, holding a huge banner which read “Pornography fuels sexual violence against women and children”.
“It’s so great that all of these people are out here to see an antipornography protest” I thought, foolishly, filled with momentary idealism. And I became aware of my mistake very quickly. The protestors were surrounded by booing and jeering. Beside me a lanky, unshaven youth screamed “What about my rights?!” While his friend joined in with comments such as “I love the titties,” and detailed explanations of the acts he would like to perform upon them.
Then we saw the cars filled with topless women.
The Boobs on Bikes parade has been surrounded by controversy since it first graced our streets, controversy which seems to have only heightened its popularity. It has been described in a ridiculously large number of ways, ranging from ‘freedom of expression’ to a ‘shameful event’.
The fact of the matter is it is legal in New Zealand for women to be topless in public. Whether the Boobs on Bikes parade should be allowed to continue is a purely moral debate, but certainly not one without consequence.
Why is it a problem for women to bare themselves in public? New Zealand is a young, liberal country, right? They chose to do it, and the sex industry is their livelihood – why shouldn’t they promote it? Sure, it’s a little tasteless. But where’s the harm in handing out business cards from ‘Strippers R Us’ to potential customers? If you don’t like it, you can look away. Seeing a bared breast never killed anyone.
3news.co.nz has been kind enough to provide 7 minutes of ‘extended footage’ from this year’s parade, so that even those who missed it can watch the spectacle through a zoom lens. That footage shows a woman with her son – who looks to be no more than four years old – watching the parade. It is highly likely that the sight of bared breasts did not in fact kill the boy, but that isn’t the issue here. What we should be concerned about is how that boy is going to learn to view women.
This parade is not about women expressing their freedom. By baring their chests they are not succeeding in showing that they are equal to men, and they are certainly not merely taking part in ‘harmless promotion’. What we are seeing in Boobs on Bikes is women being objectified, in the most archaic, blatant way possible. The women on those bikes were not cheered on as respected human beings, but as objects of sexual gratification. When we allow women to be degraded in such a way in the busiest street of our largest city, we make it normalised behaviour. Women who speak up against it are called prudes and bigots. Let me turn to a comment left on the Unitec Student’s Association website:
“I can almost guarantee the females protesting will be very average looking as they can’t handle blokes giving such good looking females all the attention!” – Hamish.
Sadly, this is an honest view, expressed by far too many people. People like Hamish actually believe that the only goal women have or ever should have is to gain male attention by looking attractive. And with spectacles like Boobs on Bikes reaffirming those beliefs, what’s to convince them otherwise?
Kevin from Auckland gave an equally damaging view:
“I was expecting it to be a bit bigger. The bikes were pretty good actually, maybe even better than the women,” he said.
Kevin’s comment quite simply spells out the objectification inherent in this event. The bikes, human creations, hunks of steel and oil, may even be BETTER than the women to Kevin. Kevin certainly doesn’t see women as people, they are not human beings with thoughts or feelings or opinions, they are objects which can be quite casually compared to automobiles. And not only compared, but compared negatively.
However, we need not despair. Though the quotes I have given are quite simply disgusting in their consideration of women, the vast majority spread across the internet were from those who disagree with the event. For those who can see the bigger picture. Boobs on Bikes is not harmless fun, and like the entire porn industry it promotes objectification of women. The treatment of women as objects does lead to abuse, it leads to rape, it leads to sexism and inequality in homes and the workplace.
And now attempts are being made to bring this event to Wellington. ‘Porn King’ Steve Crow has made claims that a Wellington Parade is planned for November, but it has not yet been confirmed. If we allow this degrading display of the female body for purely sexual purposes to be made on the streets of our Capital city, we take a hugely damaging backwards step in the battle for gender equality.