I'm perfectly willing to discuss gender issues as related to
community bike shops, but will not partake if some people will have
the audacity to just shout at me for doing so because as a male I'm
perceived to instantly be part of the problem. If you want to have a
dialogue you must let us speak.
And do not pre-judge! Sure, if some guy's response is inappropriate
then let him know, but coming here with an attitude that ALL men are
ignorant is just going to have the effect of folks not posting.
Which may explain why so many do not contribute on the gender issue -
they feel it may get ugly, quickly (like talking politics or
religion). Like it did earlier. We've all got community bike shops
to run, and who wants to sit at a computer coping with wild
generalizations and accusations from people we don't know, and who
don't know us? Keep it civil, don't get personal, and don't assume
every man is part of the problem. My take is that it mostly took
white folks to get other white folks to end slavery, and it may take
mostly men to get other men to end the patriarchy. (Though geez it's
going to be a tough slog...)
Here's an interesting corollary: I've worked in the performing arts
for most of my life, and have only gotten into the community bike
thing over the last decade. And both have gender issues.
I've been a drummer since I was 6 (I'm now 50), and as I grew up I
noticed there were very few female drummers. As a teen I thought
that it was mainly because girls were either discouraged from playing
drums (and that was often the case), or just didn't care for the
aggressiveness of most pop / rock drumming. This was the 70's, when
all sorts of young women my age had career opportunities coming
available to them that had previously been closed. And I thought
"cool, as society slowly gets the stick out of its collective butt
and let's people be what they want to be we'll see more women playing
drums, or being police officers, or whatever they want. It's not
fair to try and stop people just because of gender".
Well, here we are three decades later and I still don't see that many
female drummers. There are more, yes indeed, and some really good
ones, but it's mostly still seems to be a guy's gig. Why is that?
Sure, I've certainly heard some lame jokes made at a female drummer's
expense, but those jokes stop when the musical goods are delivered
(musicians can be a very sarcastic and cynical bunch, but we're also
mostly too idealistic, so the former is mainly a defense mechanism.
If you can play, we rarely care about gender, race, sexual
orientation. You either get what's going on musically, or you don't).
Of the female drummers I've met over the years I've sometimes asked
how they perceive things, and most replied with "well, my folks
weren't always thrilled with me playing drums, but then all my
friends, whether male or female, had their parents warn them about
putting so much effort into what is generally not a great way to make
a living". Yes, they often endured attitudes about doing something
"so masculine", but that would also apply to women who wanted to work
in the trades, or, in the reverse, guys who wanted to be in dance.
And yes, they often endured subtle or overt discrimination from men,
though generally the more "macho" the music (metal, rock, etc.) the
more prevalent this would be (funny how most of the really aggressive
music also seems the most conservative, musically).
In the end, from the discussions I've had, drums and drumming (in the
usual drumset and play in a band aspect) just don't seem to attract
that many women. And most of this does not seem to be due to
discrimination - just plain lack of interest. There are quite a few
women playing hand drums and running drum circles, but few on the
traditional drumset. I've given up being concerned about it.
Now, as for female bike mechanics, is it also lack of interest? Is
discrimination preventing an interest? This is something I AM
concerned about. If most women just think that bike repair is just
too messy or too boring or whatever that's fine - it's just the way
it is. But if those that are interested feel there's too much locker
room mentality, or not enough diversified training (some folks learn
best from doing, some from reading and instruction), then that must
be addressed.
I said at the start that men are needed to change other men's
attitudes. And if those of us running community bike shops are doing
so to effect change in the world then we need to welcome, and
encourage, everyone that wants to be a part of this change - male or
female. Let's not divide ourselves with internal politics, when
there is (to me, at least) a much larger issue at stake.
Mark