It may have to do with not using a car instead. Even here in the Netherlands, a car can be a status symbol in certain circles — particularly among the yuppie office crowd.

There is also the fact that this is a certain subclass of cargo bikes with a bench in the 'cargo hold' that tends to be specifically designed to hold two young children. These bikes are marketed at yuppies (in both price and design); people who can't afford one of these, or who are more pragmatic about it tend to settle for attachable seats (mounted behind the handlebars or behind the saddle on the ubiquitous rear luggage rack above the rear wheel) on a normal bicycle, so riding a special cargo bike just for the few years that the kids can't ride their own bicycle may come across as overly luxurious and soft.

I'd imagine it has to do with symbolically giving up the role of predator to nurture children.

Yep seems like pecking at a keyboard is the alpha thing to do.

As any hands-on father will tell you, the idea that being actively involved in child care makes you "soft" is quite asinine. It takes a massive amount of physical and mental strength to be fully involved in raising these miniature terrorists we call children.

> but it takes strong legs & constitution to regularly tow a kid or utility trailer more than a few miles.

If you're not going uphill, it's not that much harder than riding without the trailer. But the key is to downshift and maintain a higher pedaling cadence when going up grades or into a headwind rather than relying on mashing down on the pedals.

>Is it just that whole notion that fathers who are involved with their children are not masculine?

I have never heard that. I have heard lots of women gussing over men playing with kids though.

I can maybe think these dads would be called "soft", because they are in a slow, not so powerful bike, whereas others are in strong, big fast cars, but even that is pretty stupid.

I'm an avid cyclist. Every style of bike is accompanied by stereotypes about the rider. Most of the stereotypes are harmless. For instance, one of my bikes is "hipster." To some extent, bike styles are also marketed according to demographics -- like most other consumer products -- so the stereotypes are not unexpected.

> Is it just that whole notion that fathers who are involved with their children are not masculine?

That would seem to be it, based on the rest of the sentence:

>> cargo-bike mothers are described as career-focussed mothers who are assertive and self-confident, while cargo-bike dads are portrayed as ‘soft’ and emancipated fathers

They likely mean "soft" in a positive way.

https://thoughtcatalog.com/nikita-gill/2016/02/love-a-soft-p...

I don't get it really. I live in hilly Piedmont, CA and I'm amazed at the few cargo bikes hauling kids around, either with mom or dad at the pedals. I see a few with motor assist with sounds like a great idea. Some evening it feels like I can barely get myself up the hill biking home from work.

Never heard anyone call anyone soft for being involved with their kids nor for riding a bike ... ignore and move forward.

Does the paper provide any evidence for the claim that dads riding cargo bike are being called soft?