I rode a unicycle to class during college for 2-3 years. The author's experience matches my own very closely, and gives me a lot of flashbacks (positive and negative). This bit in particular stood out to me:
> Almost 50% of those encountered, more often men than women, responded verbally (box). The sex difference in the type of response was striking. Around 95% of responses from women praised, encouraged, or showed concern, and women made few comic or snide remarks. In contrast, only 25% of the comments made by men indicated praise, appreciation, or neutrality, whereas 75% were attempts at comedy, often snide and proffered combatively as a put-down. Equally striking was their repetitive nature, even though given as if original—almost 66% of these “comic” responses referred to the number of wheels (the most common), the absence of handlebars, or a part having being lost or stolen (box). Less than 25% used less obvious snide humour, but often with stylistic repetition.
Everything that the author states matches my own experience -- almost to a T.
I often felt bad -- riding a unicycle is incredibly quiet (as there is no chain or gearing), and it's disturbingly easy to sneak up on a lone pedestrian at night and give them a scare when you announce that you're passing them on the left. I'm a rather large male, and recognize I can strike an imposing figure, and hated scaring people like this. I took up whistling whilst riding near people at night just so they could know that I was there.
This was also an interesting thing to read:
> Aggressive boys
> “Do you want to knock him over?” “Yes I bet I could do it”
> While kicking a football, “Got a good target”
> Riding at me on bicycle, “Fall off granddad”
> Sudden loud shouts, then they threw small pebbles
> Loud noises, then “You’re gonna fall off . . . you’re gonna fall off”
This VERY closely matches my experience -- I was surprised at how much hostility I received from other guys. It wasn't always directly aggressive -- sometimes it was a bit tangential. Guys would often be playing pickup baseball (using a tennis ball) outside my dorm when I would arrive / leave -- and the ball would often come close to me. I only learned much later that they timed their games and would quickly run outside to try to play a few pitches only in order to try and hit me as I was riding by. On one level I thought this was kind of cool that they cared enough to do this, but it also made me sad inside in a way that I have never fully been able to put into words.
There were the regular jeering remarks, and even the more aggressive actions of going so far as to steal my unicycle a couple of times -- thankfully I was always able to recover it (a friend would call me and tell me it was found lying in a parking lot across campus -- clearly abandoned after they gave up trying to ride it).
It's an interesting case-study on how society reacts to outliers -- this was a beautiful set of data to read. Thank you!
> It's an interesting case-study on how society reacts to outliers
And sadly, as you experienced, that reaction is often negative.
I've done quite a few things in my life that are "not normal", and the negative responses are utterly incredible. It would appear the more miserable a person is in their life, the more they want to lash out at someone doing something different to try and get away from that miserable. Almost like they want you to stay trapped in the miserable because they themselves feel trapped, and they feel cheated knowing someone else has (or is trying to) escape.
I find this shockingly true in Australia (where I'm from, but have not lived for almost 20 years). The national pastime is winging (complaining), but if you change your life to do something else, people will very quickly put you down and tell you to get right back into line. I always have a strong feeling that society says it's unacceptable for adults to just "play" or "have fun" for the sake of having fun. Everyone expects you to grow up and get a miserable job and be miserable like everyone else, and if you do anything that looks even remotely fun you'll be cut down like a tall poppy
> it's disturbingly easy to sneak up on a lone pedestrian at night and give them a scare when you announce that you're passing them on the left. I'm a rather large male, and recognize I can strike an imposing figure, and hated scaring people like this. I took up whistling whilst riding near people at night just so they could know that I was there.
This is also a thing with these electric scooters and such.
It's just the speed difference that can really surprise you; I'm "scared" by that. I had this just yesterday where a kid passed me on a narrow footpath. I wouldn't have minded to step aside, but I do need to know they're there.
Really should have a bell. I don't know how that would work on a unicycle though.
> Equally striking was their repetitive nature, even though given as if original
I mean, this is pretty common. Most people aren't very funny, when you get down to it, and if they're trying to be humorous on the fly, they will almost always tell an incredibly tired joke.
You're a unicyclist; you hear it all the time. They rarely see unicyclists, so to them (and their friends) it's not a stale joke (though it wasn't very funny even when it was original).
Middle kid has a couple unicycles -- he's the only one around, and rides often. (And he's pretty good, can jump mount, do 180 jumps, ride up and down stairs, and generally he's a comfortable as on a bike. He has played the Emperor's March on a trombone while riding as well. He insists that he's not practicing for the circus).
Most common comment by far: "Do a wheelie", second -- "Where's your other wheel/You've lost a wheel" (which is answered by the tshirt -- "My other wheel is on my other unicycle".
This is totally ignoring how most men jokes with other men vs how women talk to strange men they don't know.
Not a shock that women are a bit friendlier. Whereas men try to be a bit more clever for the sake of fun.
I spent a decade selling cars and the part I miss most is the totally crazy humor between salespeople and management. You know how a salesperson goes to talk to his manager every iteration of any negotiation? Every single time my manager would have a funny quip when I returned. And I'd also try to have something funny to say about either the manager or the customer or myself.
OP would label all this as hateful or negative which really it wasn't.
I'm not able to tell: does the author imply the "lost your wheel?" type comedy questions are put-downs? I have trouble seeing it that way. I would call it more of a jest than an insult and more of a basic attempt at humor that notes the uniqueness of the situation. To call noting anything that is odd a put down stretches the limits of credibility.
If they sent him that comment as a text message, then maybe it's not a put down. Obviously, there's body language and tone of voice that can't be represented in the paper.
I rode a unicycle to class in college for several years, and in my experience, it was generally done in a mild but jeering tone. "Hey buddy, lost your wheel! hahaha" -- while it may occasionally have been delivered in a sympathetic tone, it usually felt analogous to when people would yell at passing joggers "run Forrest, run!"
Every, and I mean every, kid’s reaction when first seeing a unicycle: awe and big smiles. Naturally, right? It’s a bit ridiculous and amazing, isn’t it?
So IMO if any adult doesn’t respond with a smile (at least on the inside … be honest with yourself) then they’ve lost their inner child … and isn’t that a bit sad?
Disclaimer: I have a unicycle and am a terrible terrible rider. Don’t care. Gotta hit the sidewalk once in a while to refresh and damn if I don’t end up giggling every time I fall.
> “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.”
Margret Atwood
> The quote is usually presented as inherently true, capturing the asymmetrical nature of the neverending war between the sexes. And I think that aspect is basically correct. But, if you’ll forgive me for being a pedantic male, it’s incomplete. Yes, men are afraid women will laugh at them; yes, women are afraid men will kill them. But do you know what else men are afraid of?
As a man, I have never done this, and I very rarely find myself in a situation where other men are like this towards me. If your experience is different, you are just surrounded by assholes and need to reflect on the people and places you spend your time with. It’s also worth noting that being an asshole is not a gendered phenomenon.
Somewhat off topic, but I run barefoot (when I run, which isn't as often these days), and the responses are very similar. Mostly repetitive insults from men, ("did you forget your shoes?", "be careful, you'll cut your feet"), some curiosity, ("doesn't that hurt?"), some envy ("wow I wish I could do that") and a small amount of praise.
It's interesting how many people feel free to say the damnedest things when they see someone doing something they don't understand.
"be careful, you'll cut your feet" seems like something I would say, but it would be out of well-meaning concern, and not in any way intended as an insult.
Yeah, I'm middle-aged and ride around on an electric skateboard, including a daily but very short commute. I go out of my way (literally) to not inconvenience either pedestrians or drivers, so have had only a couple of drivers yell at me (much less than on a bike). But I do get questions and comments often.
There's a lot of the rider's bias leaking through here. "Men who seemed to be of higher social class", "Middle Class Men", complete assumptions and biases that aren't used to form any sort of conclusion. Frustrating in an otherwise enjoyable and interesting essay.
This was an interesting read however it's clear the author is very far removed from conducting this "experiment" neutrally. For starters, it's not about "response to a sudden, unexpected exposure to a new phenomenon—unicycling" as the author suggest, but rather about exposure to the author on a unicycle. Can you imagine the responses were the same if we replaced the rider with a stunning female model? Would the men and boys still have challenging reactions? I bet not.
fwiw, my wife (who I at least think is hot) gets similar reactions (fake whinnying, "I don't play with my food", etc.) from younger men and boys when out riding her horses.
Edit: we talking about this article a bit; she reports older men (40+! we do eventually learn) have a clue about how to start a conversation with an attractive woman ("that looks elegant", "how old is your horse?", etc.) so I told her how my grandmother told me inappropriate male attention at school came in the form of dipping her pigtails in inkwells.
It would be interesting to contrast the unicycle experience with tandem bike experiences. When I ride my tandem bike with a partner I almost universally experience smiles and happy waves from people that see us.
I can ride a unicycle and rode it more often as a teenager. Lots of comments about getting lost from the circus. But they were meant to be funny. I think.
I don't unicycle but I used to be an avid juggler.
My experience is that greatest predictor of what kind of response you get when doing something unusual in public is whether or not the activity is solitary. If you do a solitary activity that takes a lot of practice, it suggests you're some kind of weirdo loner who has to fill the empty days with hobbies because no one wants to hang out with you, and responses in public may reflect that.
If you're doing an activity with someone else, then at least one person doesn't think you're an intolerable weirdo, so people seem to be more accepting of it.
The responses I got between when I was juggling alone versus club passing with another person in a park were very different.
My wife and I did a couple of tandem tours throughout the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. By far the most comments we had were in the UK, the most common being: “she’s not pedalling!” jokingly informing me that my wife who sits at the back isn’t doing her part.
The amount of comments were nowhere close what the author describes, and I can’t recall any negative comments. Just humorous ones.
I guess a tandem isn’t as uncommon / funny as a unicycle.
I ride a recumbent and get my share of comments, mostly positive. (Others have talked of getting "one of your wheels is bigger than the other" comments, but I don't remember hearing that one yet)
Maybe it's a cultural thing, but the alleged put-downs and aggression mostly sound mis-categorized to me. There are only a few of the given lines that sound aggressive or insulting.
The "Indirect put downs" are mostly misclassified. I'm surprised that a unicyclist has no sense of humor, and the fully grown adult has no sense of banter. It seems that the author has a chip on his shoulder against men.
Indirect put-downs:
“You must like living dangerously”
“Odd things you find on cycles”
“And what were your other birthday presents?”
“Is it a new form of transport then?”
“I suppose it saves on tyres”
“You park your bike for two minutes and that’s what you are left with”
> About 1-2% of people expressed anger, distaste, or fear of collision, mostly elderly women and some men walking with sticks.
fortysomething able-bodied man, but i suspect fear of collision would be my first reaction too. unicycles look hard to control and liable to crash into things, based on instincts developed riding bicycles. (i would also think it was a neat thing to do, though)
They're also somewhat bigger and faster than you expect, which combined with the above would certainly worry me if I was walking and prone to serious injury or death from a fall.
I wonder if the men's remarks aren't often born of envy? It's common for men to say stuff like "That must have cost a pretty penny" or "He must have a small penis", regarding other vehicles.
And let's be honest, a unicycle is pretty amusing. My first impulse would be to make a joke.
Lastly, I'm not at all surprised that women, seeing a man performing a significant act of physical agility, might have some positive emotional reaction.
I'm most impressed by the systematic way the OP collected the statistics!
This mirrors my own experience as a unicyclist (both traditional and electric). Reactions are very common, and vary wildly. It's rare to pass someone and not get some sort of reaction, and if you stop near them it's always "was it hard to learn?" or "what's that cost?" for the electric one.
Mirrors mine, too. Although I didn't get to the travel stage on unicycle (never got outside parking lots), so most of my experience with other people was on electric unicycle early in their arrival into our area.
(in the US) The one constant was that overwhelmingly older men and women were interested and impressed and had genuine questions or compliments without making jokes.
The younger you got with males, the more aggressive and posturing the questions and behavior. Younger females were non-memorable - mainly just looked or ignored. Pre-teen, kids of both genders are just curious.
There's a definite similarity in the behaviors of people as they get older and the very young in how they approach new and interesting things like a (e)unicycle. As people get older they seemed to lose all need to posture and prove themselves and they seemed more comfortable exposing the vulnerability of being curious and ignorant.
Also tracks my experience as a unicyclist. When you keep poking at humanity with the same but unusual prompt, you glimpse how similar people can be. To the quip about losing a wheel, my sadly habituated response is "that was the training wheel!", and then they chuckle, because it's new to them ...
I've been riding an electric unicycle for years and I don't think I've gotten a single negative comment, aside from riding somewhere (they thought) I shouldn't have. But those same comments would have been directed at a scooter or bike.
Typically when people marvel at my wheel, I tell them if they give me a few bowling pins I can juggle as well.
I use mine to walk my dog and get nothing but amazement and joy from people of literally all ages. People over 4 years old smile, point and say 'that guys unicycling, awesome'. People 4 and under smile, point and say 'doggie, doggie doggie'.
Never a bad word, but I don't ride it like I'm an A-hole bicyclist.
I highly recommend some of the best content on Youtube, Ed Pratt's series [0] where he unicycles around the world. [0] https://www.youtube.com/@EdPratt
My sister self-taught unicycling as a teenager, and then used it for short trips to the supermarket (in an area where pedestrians and cyclists are pretty common).
She got lots of attention, but only rarely talked about getting negative comments. (But she's not the type who would rate "I suppose it saves on tyres" as a put-down).
[+] [-] HanClinto|2 years ago|reply
I often felt bad -- riding a unicycle is incredibly quiet (as there is no chain or gearing), and it's disturbingly easy to sneak up on a lone pedestrian at night and give them a scare when you announce that you're passing them on the left. I'm a rather large male, and recognize I can strike an imposing figure, and hated scaring people like this. I took up whistling whilst riding near people at night just so they could know that I was there.
This was also an interesting thing to read:
This VERY closely matches my experience -- I was surprised at how much hostility I received from other guys. It wasn't always directly aggressive -- sometimes it was a bit tangential. Guys would often be playing pickup baseball (using a tennis ball) outside my dorm when I would arrive / leave -- and the ball would often come close to me. I only learned much later that they timed their games and would quickly run outside to try to play a few pitches only in order to try and hit me as I was riding by. On one level I thought this was kind of cool that they cared enough to do this, but it also made me sad inside in a way that I have never fully been able to put into words.There were the regular jeering remarks, and even the more aggressive actions of going so far as to steal my unicycle a couple of times -- thankfully I was always able to recover it (a friend would call me and tell me it was found lying in a parking lot across campus -- clearly abandoned after they gave up trying to ride it).
It's an interesting case-study on how society reacts to outliers -- this was a beautiful set of data to read. Thank you!
[+] [-] grecy|2 years ago|reply
And sadly, as you experienced, that reaction is often negative.
I've done quite a few things in my life that are "not normal", and the negative responses are utterly incredible. It would appear the more miserable a person is in their life, the more they want to lash out at someone doing something different to try and get away from that miserable. Almost like they want you to stay trapped in the miserable because they themselves feel trapped, and they feel cheated knowing someone else has (or is trying to) escape.
I find this shockingly true in Australia (where I'm from, but have not lived for almost 20 years). The national pastime is winging (complaining), but if you change your life to do something else, people will very quickly put you down and tell you to get right back into line. I always have a strong feeling that society says it's unacceptable for adults to just "play" or "have fun" for the sake of having fun. Everyone expects you to grow up and get a miserable job and be miserable like everyone else, and if you do anything that looks even remotely fun you'll be cut down like a tall poppy
[+] [-] arp242|2 years ago|reply
This is also a thing with these electric scooters and such.
It's just the speed difference that can really surprise you; I'm "scared" by that. I had this just yesterday where a kid passed me on a narrow footpath. I wouldn't have minded to step aside, but I do need to know they're there.
Really should have a bell. I don't know how that would work on a unicycle though.
[+] [-] devilbunny|2 years ago|reply
I mean, this is pretty common. Most people aren't very funny, when you get down to it, and if they're trying to be humorous on the fly, they will almost always tell an incredibly tired joke.
You're a unicyclist; you hear it all the time. They rarely see unicyclists, so to them (and their friends) it's not a stale joke (though it wasn't very funny even when it was original).
[+] [-] p1mrx|2 years ago|reply
This one is pretty clever. Not aggressive or threatening, just good old psychological manipulation. Reminds me of John Mulaney's bit on 8th graders.
[+] [-] m463|2 years ago|reply
I thought there were unicycles with gearing. And mountain unicycles. Which makes them all the more fascinating.
[+] [-] wiredfool|2 years ago|reply
Most common comment by far: "Do a wheelie", second -- "Where's your other wheel/You've lost a wheel" (which is answered by the tshirt -- "My other wheel is on my other unicycle".
[+] [-] talldatethrow|2 years ago|reply
Not a shock that women are a bit friendlier. Whereas men try to be a bit more clever for the sake of fun.
I spent a decade selling cars and the part I miss most is the totally crazy humor between salespeople and management. You know how a salesperson goes to talk to his manager every iteration of any negotiation? Every single time my manager would have a funny quip when I returned. And I'd also try to have something funny to say about either the manager or the customer or myself.
OP would label all this as hateful or negative which really it wasn't.
[+] [-] Boogie_Man|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vdaea|2 years ago|reply
OTOH he thinks women saying “You should dress up as Santa for the children” is praise and not a put-down.
[+] [-] bogwog|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] HanClinto|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rob74|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emptybits|2 years ago|reply
So IMO if any adult doesn’t respond with a smile (at least on the inside … be honest with yourself) then they’ve lost their inner child … and isn’t that a bit sad?
Disclaimer: I have a unicycle and am a terrible terrible rider. Don’t care. Gotta hit the sidewalk once in a while to refresh and damn if I don’t end up giggling every time I fall.
[+] [-] earthboundkid|2 years ago|reply
Margret Atwood
> The quote is usually presented as inherently true, capturing the asymmetrical nature of the neverending war between the sexes. And I think that aspect is basically correct. But, if you’ll forgive me for being a pedantic male, it’s incomplete. Yes, men are afraid women will laugh at them; yes, women are afraid men will kill them. But do you know what else men are afraid of?
> Men.
> Men are also afraid other men will kill them.
https://verydistantlands.substack.com/p/the-eraserhead-guide...
TFA fits the pattern. Men feel the need to quickly establish a hierarchy with a modest putdown.
[+] [-] callalex|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ImprovedSilence|2 years ago|reply
Strange, cuz Marylin Monroe told me "if you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything."
So maybe men are just constantly calibrating a competitive sense of humor..?
[+] [-] Hasu|2 years ago|reply
It's interesting how many people feel free to say the damnedest things when they see someone doing something they don't understand.
[+] [-] mitthrowaway2|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dimatura|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] callumw13|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] magic_hamster|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 082349872349872|2 years ago|reply
Edit: we talking about this article a bit; she reports older men (40+! we do eventually learn) have a clue about how to start a conversation with an attractive woman ("that looks elegant", "how old is your horse?", etc.) so I told her how my grandmother told me inappropriate male attention at school came in the form of dipping her pigtails in inkwells.
[+] [-] phyzome|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] layer8|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] perydell|2 years ago|reply
I can ride a unicycle and rode it more often as a teenager. Lots of comments about getting lost from the circus. But they were meant to be funny. I think.
[+] [-] munificent|2 years ago|reply
My experience is that greatest predictor of what kind of response you get when doing something unusual in public is whether or not the activity is solitary. If you do a solitary activity that takes a lot of practice, it suggests you're some kind of weirdo loner who has to fill the empty days with hobbies because no one wants to hang out with you, and responses in public may reflect that.
If you're doing an activity with someone else, then at least one person doesn't think you're an intolerable weirdo, so people seem to be more accepting of it.
The responses I got between when I was juggling alone versus club passing with another person in a park were very different.
[+] [-] AriedK|2 years ago|reply
I guess a tandem isn’t as uncommon / funny as a unicycle.
[+] [-] lmm|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yjftsjthsd-h|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrismorgan|2 years ago|reply
Now I’m curious how the reactions would be for a tandem recumbent tricycle. (Yes, they’re a thing.)
[+] [-] CapitalistCartr|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wiredfool|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] recursive|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] air7|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cookie_monsta|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lupire|2 years ago|reply
Indirect put-downs:
[+] [-] zem|2 years ago|reply
fortysomething able-bodied man, but i suspect fear of collision would be my first reaction too. unicycles look hard to control and liable to crash into things, based on instincts developed riding bicycles. (i would also think it was a neat thing to do, though)
[+] [-] pc86|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeAltmaier|2 years ago|reply
And let's be honest, a unicycle is pretty amusing. My first impulse would be to make a joke.
Lastly, I'm not at all surprised that women, seeing a man performing a significant act of physical agility, might have some positive emotional reaction.
I'm most impressed by the systematic way the OP collected the statistics!
[+] [-] grumple|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ydant|2 years ago|reply
(in the US) The one constant was that overwhelmingly older men and women were interested and impressed and had genuine questions or compliments without making jokes.
The younger you got with males, the more aggressive and posturing the questions and behavior. Younger females were non-memorable - mainly just looked or ignored. Pre-teen, kids of both genders are just curious.
There's a definite similarity in the behaviors of people as they get older and the very young in how they approach new and interesting things like a (e)unicycle. As people get older they seemed to lose all need to posture and prove themselves and they seemed more comfortable exposing the vulnerability of being curious and ignorant.
Men absolutely love to ask the cost.
[+] [-] an1sotropy|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] insickness|2 years ago|reply
Typically when people marvel at my wheel, I tell them if they give me a few bowling pins I can juggle as well.
[+] [-] bradrn|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amelius|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asdfasvea|2 years ago|reply
Never a bad word, but I don't ride it like I'm an A-hole bicyclist.
[+] [-] seagullriffic|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] perlgeek|2 years ago|reply
She got lots of attention, but only rarely talked about getting negative comments. (But she's not the type who would rate "I suppose it saves on tyres" as a put-down).