[TheThinkTank] Women and Trans Night

[Stuart O Anderson]

We (Free Ride!) have a biweekly Ladies + Trans night all year.  I'm
not sure if that's the current name we're using, since there was some
concern about finding the best language we could to describe what we
intend.  There seem to always be a few folks who question whether
having a night like ours is a good idea - some of the folks who attend
worry that it creates a ghetto that exacerbates existing problems by
putting less women/trans folk in our regular shop hours (and reducing
the number of women staffers available to staff the regular shifts).
We haven't had any serious problems, like bad press, from folks who
don't like being excluded from women and trans night.

On occasion someone visiting the shop will ask about it in a way that
makes clear their disapproval.  Fortunately, I think all of our
staffers are comfortable explaining the reasons why we have a
women+trans night at the shop when that situation arises.  Mostly we
focus on communicating that some of the people who attend women+trans
night do so because they do not feel comfortable at the shop on the
other nights because those nights are attended primarily by males, and
that the shop would not be accessible to those people without a womens
and trans night.

Recently we had a fellow in the shop who wanted a men's night because
he (genuinely, I believe) felt uncomfortable having women around in
the shop - I haven't quite figured out what an appropriate response
there would be.  Similar to the situation Sasha described - I think
the lesson here is that exclusive nights can't just be about creating
a space where a certain group can avoid things that make them
uncomfortable.  That creates a slippery slope where we could end up
with a cisgendered only night (because trans folks make some people
uncomfortable) or a whites/non-whites only night, or other things we'd
never actually consider doing.  The point, I think, is that we are in
a position where we must recognize the broader context, within our
bicycle culture and our cities, that these exclusive/safe nights take
place in.  The reason we have a women+trans night and not a men's
night is that we see that, in Pittsburgh and in our shop, cisgender
males typically occupy positions of power.  It's that context in
combination with an expressed desire for an exclusive space, that
makes our women+trans night appropriate.

Stuart

On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 10:52 AM,  <freeridemp at riseup.net> wrote:
>
>
>  Hey Bike Shops,
>  Does anyone else hold a Women and Trans night or Ladies' night? I know
>  Plan B does. We had a weekly one last summer and will be having another
>  this summer. The women who have held the shift have found it effective to
>  keep the shift exclusive, closed to male-bodied masculine-identifying
>  people. We have had a backlash from one of our members, who accuses us of
>  sexism, discrimination, and injustice. We have gotten some incomplete and
>  bad press.
>
>  Please let me know if you hold a shift like this one, exclusive or not,
>  and what you have done about any complaints your membership or community
>  has had.
>
>  Thanks,
>  Colin Gunn
>  Freeride Montpelier
>  Montpelier, VT
>  www.freeridemontpelier.org
>
>
>
>
>
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>