Hm. I'm not a liberal, so "squabbling against each other" won't be a problem.
The fact that the bicycle and transportation industry is almost
entirely controlled by males is gender-centric -- nevermind the rest
of society. You could also call it patriarchal, misogynist, sexist,
etc. Is it productive to be satisfied with inequality? Is it
productive to be ladylike, passive, and catch flies with honey?
Depends on your survival strategy and your goals. There are rewards
for cooperation, and punishments for rebellion.
I am a bike mechanic. I am not a woman bike mechanic. Men do not call
themselves "man bike mechanics." I consider myself a human being.
Period. I consider you a human being. Period. We share a lot of
experiences, whether we want to or not, because this culture says
we're both women. I'm sure we interpret and react to even our shared
experiences differently -- because we're individual human beings, not
just some monolithic woman-culture.
As for a common goal -- we may not directly share one, no. I got into
bicycles for a slew of social reasons. When humans drive cars, they
become ugly monsters with no respect for animal, vegetable, or mineral
life and a warped perception of time, distance, temperature, and
priorities. Humans personify their cars, but don't notice slaughtering
squirrels or recognize that the gunk on their windshield contains legs
and wings because it was ALIVE. Literal psychopaths. Women are not
generally regarded as full-fledged human beings, either. I really
don't think I need to cite any examples.
Cars are an expensive vice and the poorest people in the world are
women. In the US in 2008, the entire transportation industry was
completely male-dominated ("nontraditional occupations") -- females
make up a whopping 1.6% of car mechanics. There are fewer than 50,000
bike mechanics in this country, so in leiu of fancy government
statistics, I have to assume from personal experience that women
aren't doing signifigantly better in the bicycle industry. This bias
did not create itself -- it is not an accident, not a coincidence. And
the problem will not go away on its own. Problems rarely do, and to my
knowledge oppression never ever has.
Sexism is not some cataclysmic one-time event. It's an incessant
bombardment of the same message. That can be untested rape kits. That
can be laughing at a misogynist stereotype because it's 'just a joke'.
That can be running women out of the bicycle industry, and then saying
that women are too weak or just not interested. Here is an article
saying it much better than I can.
http://joy-mari.com/2009/12/22/what-is-real-racism/
More generally, white dudes got us in this mess we're in. Oppression
is completely unsustainable. Now their colonizing, industrializing
asses want to be in charge of the clean up crew? They have a
thoroughly dastardly track record, so if they're not going to let
anyone else have a turn, we'd better at least keep an eye on 'em.
If bikes follow the pattern of cars, everybody loses. All genders
lose. I'm not willing to go down without a fight and I hope to see as
many of you as possible in the trenches. And some day, maybe, bicycles
really will be accessible to everyone.
All the best,
Andrea "too tired to proofread this drivel at 5am" McCann
--
Bike City Recyclery
Fayetteville, Arkansas
http://www.bikecityrecyclery.org/
On 12/27/09, Wendy Monroe
wendy.monroe@usermail.com wrote:
> Is it really productive to be so gender-centric... I'm a woman bike
> mechanic who considers myself a human being first, and a woman second.
> Can we try to focus on the Big Picture, please?
>
> the Powers that Be just LOVE identity politics, it keeps the liberals
> squabbling against each other, rather than pushing forward towards a
> common goal.
> We Do have one, right?
>
> Wendy Monroe
> De Fiets Fee
> Amsterdam
>
> On 27 Dec 2009, at 05:35, Bike City wrote:
>
>> Four dudes talking about a male-dominated topic. Totally
>> progressive, dude.
>>
>> I've let you know at least twice now that we do not want to be on this
>> list. Bike Talk is not the same as the Think Tank. I'm sure anyone
>> interested in these updates would be willing to join a seperate list.
>> Until then, your last paragraph is either a joke or a lie and your
>> emails are unsolicited.
>>
>>
>> Andrea
>>
>>
>> On 12/25/09, bike talk
livebiketalk@gmail.com wrote:
>>> Hey Spokes Folks,
>>>
>>> It's Jim C. here, and I'm writing to invite, no, to convince you to
>>> be heard
>>> - and not just by the online Bike Talk group this week. This coming
>>> Tuesday, December 29th, Bike Talk will get its first live broadcast
>>> show on
>>> KPFK, 90.7 FM from 11PM til midnight Pacific Time - you can check
>>> them out
>>> here
http://www.kpfk.org/.
>>>
>>> Who listens to the radio these days? Well, you might be
>>> surprised. KPFK is
>>> a groundbreaking Pacifica station that broadcasts many great shows
>>> including
>>> my personal favorite, 'Democracy Now!' -
>>> here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPFKis a link to the KPFK
>>> wikipedia
>>> page. KPFK is considered a progressive
>>> radio station that leans a little farther left than other media
>>> stations.
>>>
>>> OK, so now you know the setup. How can you help? We'll be talking
>>> about
>>> most things bike, starting with a brief synopsis of bike-
>>> friendliness in
>>> cities by author Jeff Mapes (Pedaling
>>> Revolution
http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0870714198&PID=33501),
>>> and followed by a short critique of bike-friendliness in LA and
>>> what the
>>> city is doing to address cyclists' issues with its proposed Bicycle
>>> Master
>>> Plan. This is where we need you to call in - (818) 985-5735.
>>>
>>> What would you like to see improved in our city? Most of the
>>> listeners of
>>> this show will probably be driving in their automobiles. We want
>>> to bridge
>>> the gap between drivers and cyclists, so let's talk about what we
>>> want to
>>> see, not what we battle. We should save the fight for the next
>>> show - our
>>> focus with this show is to celebrate the bicycle and how it
>>> improves the
>>> quality of our lives. So call in and address the Bicycle Master
>>> Plan -
>>> (818) 985-5735, and tell us your ideas for improving cycling in our
>>> city.
>>>
>>> We'll be following up these segments with some bicycle culture, a
>>> year-end
>>> review from Streetsblog
http://la.streetsblog.org/'s Damien Newton,
>>> calendar and news, and hopefully, some bicycle back story combined
>>> with
>>> clips from our interview with Richard Schwinn.
>>>
>>> We can't wait to hear from YOU!
>>>
>>> -Jim C
>>> Bike Talk!
http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/index.php?shokey=biketalk
>> >
>>> and Orange
>>> 20 Bikes
http://orange20bikes.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> please let us know if you want to be taken off this list. Hear Bike
>>> Talk!
>>> live on www.killradio.org, 10am-noon Saturdays. Call in at (213)
>>> 252-0998.
>>> Hear the podcast at kpfk.org:
>>>
http://www.kpfk.org/programs/170-bike-talk.html See what's new with
>>> us at
>>> www.biketalk.us Follow us at bike_talk_kpfk on twitter.com
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Bike City Recyclery
>> Fayetteville, Arkansas
>>
http://www.bikecityrecyclery.org/
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>
--
Bike City Recyclery
Fayetteville, Arkansas
http://www.bikecityrecyclery.org/
