The online cycling community has recently become subject to some bizarrely sexualized advertising on Instagram—and one person is doing her best to counter it in the best way.
The owner of the @gravel_tryhard account is creating parodies of sexist cycling ads in response to the overwhelming number of advertisements depicting hyperfeminine female cyclists in unrealistic situations.
“Imagine a woman who’s trying to decide whether to get into cycling, and she searches ‘women’s cycling’ on Instagram—what does she see?” said @gravel_tryhard, who wishes to remain anonymous. “If that was me years ago, before I bought my first road bike, I would have turned around and left.”
Her primary goal with the account is to find a way to speak to women and tell them that female cyclists don’t have to look or act a certain way. She doesn’t want to hurt women or make a mockery of cyclist influencers; she just wants to flood the tags with imagery that distracts from a sport that sometimes caters to expectations of what an “athlete” is supposed to look like.
“There’s a time and a place for being outraged. But my goal personally here is to make people feel happier,” she said.