Women&#39;s and Trans day/night/time is vital, and I think it is important to keep it exclusive- at the Bike Church, male mechanics are kept away.<br><br>It is a time for those (women,trans, etc) to discover the shop space at ease in a welcoming environment.&nbsp; I find that women coming to these hours feel more and more comfortable comoing to regular hours.&nbsp; It took a decade of saying &quot;how do we get more women to work in our shop?&quot; and finally the Bike Church has a fair balance (roughly maybe) and we are still committed to the womens/trans day. <br>
<br>Ignore the bad press.&nbsp; Those who feel disimpowered for the few hours are learning something too by being asked to stay out.&nbsp;&nbsp;  <br><br>We have patrons and even mechanics who dont like it at times (It took me some time to get used to not just dropping by on a sunday afternooon, cause I&#39;m a man- it can be hard).&nbsp; Its not that big a deal.<br>
<br>Ours is only every other Sunday, 11am to 3pm<br><br>josh muir<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 7:52 AM,  &lt;<a href="mailto:freeridemp@riseup.net">freeridemp@riseup.net</a>&gt; wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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Hey Bike Shops,<br>
Does anyone else hold a Women and Trans night or Ladies&#39; night? I know<br>
Plan B does. We had a weekly one last summer and will be having another<br>
this summer. The women who have held the shift have found it effective to<br>
keep the shift exclusive, closed to male-bodied masculine-identifying<br>
people. We have had a backlash from one of our members, who accuses us of<br>
sexism, discrimination, and injustice. We have gotten some incomplete and<br>
bad press.<br>
<br>
Please let me know if you hold a shift like this one, exclusive or not,<br>
and what you have done about any complaints your membership or community<br>
has had.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Colin Gunn<br>
Freeride Montpelier<br>
Montpelier, VT<br>
<a href="http://www.freeridemontpelier.org" target="_blank">www.freeridemontpelier.org</a><br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><br>Joshua Muir<br><a href="mailto:joshua@santacruzhub.org">joshua@santacruzhub.org</a><br><br>Frances Cycles -- <a href="http://francescycles.com">francescycles.com</a><br>
Handbuilt cycling framesets<br>Touring, Track, Road,Cross, and Cycletrucks for hauling any distance<br><br><br>The Bicycle Church Collective<br>Community Self-Service Cycle Repair<br>3pm to 7pm everyday except Sunday<br>703 Pacific Ave (enter on Spruce St)<br>
Santa Cruz, CA 95060<br>(831) 425-2453