We have a Women & Queer night, once a month. Right now, we're looking at how/if we can expand this/split it into two different nights (with both still being trans-friendly).
In terms of negative comments, we try to head them off at the pass in our event promotion by including wording like this: "If you don't self-identify as female and/or LGBTQ, feel free to invite one of your friends who does! And join us at our weekly P&Y night on Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. if you'd like to get involved in another of our programs."
When someone comes in the shop who reads like a cis-het man (for lack of a better way of phrasing that), I welcome them to Women & Queer night and say that they're welcome to stay if they identify as a woman and/or queer, but if they don't, we ask that they come back to the space another time (giving both shop time options & volunteer programming options). This generally works fairly well; sometimes we have to be a bit more assertive.
On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 2:23 PM, Christopher Chan < chris.chan@edmontonbikes.ca> wrote:
You're welcome to use text from our page:
We are updating the name (women & trans) to include femme for ours, and
we will likely also introduce a separate queer time as well.
Christopher Chan Executive Director Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society
edmontonbikes.ca
BikeWorks North • 9305 111 Ave • T5G 0A2 • 780-757-9100 BikeWorks South • 8001 102 St • T6E 4A2 • 780-433-2453 Cell • 780-756-7560
On 17 Oct 2014 11:43, "Leslie Peteya" lesliepeteya@gmail.com wrote:
We have both a women's night and a trans/queer night. Mainly, because we
can serve the 2 different populations better.
Our collective has had several intense discussions around why we need
such nights. I explain the bro-chisimo environment of
fixing bikes, the masculine energy, some men's tendency to jump and
offer to 'help', discomfort felt by queer/trans populations in
interacting with homophobic patrons, women's historic acculturation to
be accommodating and not speak up, as and maybe I just want to hang out with my fellow women and share cupcakes, as all reasons for having these nights.
Best, Leslie Durham Bike Co-op
On Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 1:23 PM, Judith Feist judith.feist@gmail.com
wrote:
Good Afternoon all,
I was just wondering what shops out there have specific shop nights
dedicated to a specific group of individuals...Do you have literature you hand out to folks who ask questions about this specific shop night? How do you run it? I would like to host an evening where folks who identify as women/trans are able to come work on/learn about bike maintenance/safety in a welcoming environment...
Any info is helpful. Especially concerning how you respond to negative
comments pertaining to such evenings...
I hope everyone is well and thank you, in advance, for any information.
It's greatly appreciated.
-- judith caroline feist
"i don' think my art is political. i think it's about the stuff that
doesn't let me sleep at night." -felix gonzalez-torres
I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything
else in the world...It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.~Susan B. Anthony
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