Women who ride: The psyche of the female motorcyclist

Garber, L. (2002). Women who ride: The psyche of the female motorcyclist (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2002). UMI No. 3067641.

The personal and collective meaning and motivation of the female motorcyclist is the subject of this dissertation. The contemporary rider is an intriguing and important phenomenon. Very little prior academic research has been done on women riders, with virtually no studies in the psychological literature on the subject. The popular press and a small number of autobiographical accounts cover the topic but none of this material addresses the psychology of women who ride. My research therefore was eclectic.

Using a grounded hermeneutic research methodology three lines of thought were mined; history, sociology, and mythology. Additionally, the experience of five women riders was cubed from phenomenological interviews conducted by the author. Another component was drawn from my own experience, both as the researcher and as a female motorcycle rider.

The god Hermes and the goddess Brunnhilde were identified as the progenitors of the psyche of the female motorcyclist. During the 1960s, in the crucifix-shaped shadow at the crossroads, the gods met and coupled. Their offspring was the archetypal energy enlivening women who ride. The contemporary female motorcyclist is their inheritor and the subject of this study.

The study results revealed a process of feminine individuation emerging in the psychology of the riders which was mirrored in the collective. This transformative experience was closer to the idea of individuation identified by the archetypalists than that associated with the classical Jungians.

The journey towards a more conscious and articulated Self began in conflict and expressed itself as fear. This fear was challenged, resulting in an increased sense of independence. The riders then moved toward a union with nature (the mother), directed their attention to powerful father dynamics, finally emerged from the family with a desire to be seen. This process culminated in an enhanced sense of Self supported by an impassioned relationship to the motorcycle.