Andrea, for Christ's sake! Why don't you harness the energy of all
that anger to win people over to your point of view.. rather than
drawing your line in the sand?
Here in Holland, things are different than in the U.S. Native Dutch
women order their men around, to a large extent. And the Moroccan
immigrant women, appear to be oppressed... by American standards.. As
a non-Arabic speaking person, I do wonder about this.
I've been giving bike repair classes to teenage Muslim Moroccan
immigrant boys, to serve as a positive example of a woman who is
competent with tools...
in contrast to whatever cultural norms they may have learned from
their families...
In some cases, I can tell it is a real cognitive dissonance for them.
I have heard them saying to each other in Dutch... ( what the Hell?!
she is fixing my bike better than the guys can!)
That's not what I'm there for, to show them that. I'm there because
they will have better lives, if they learn how to use tools, and it's
satisfying to give them a hand. Maybe they'll learn how to make
money with this useful skill, and thereby be able to avoid the
fallback of military service... I hope so.
I can't be sure, how much headway I am making towards broadening their
perspectives, in terms of gender politics..
Maybe they'll grow up to be nicer and less dogmatic people, I hope
so. One still sees Muslim women at our local shopping mall wearing
Burkas, so I know there is a conflict of cultural values in this
community. One of my best friends wears a head scarf, and I'm still
not sure, why she finds that necessary.
The main thing is, I think I can make a lot more progress towards a
more actualized community by connecting with these Muslim kids in a
friendly way.. than I would if I were angry at them, demanding that
they change their attitudes towards women.
I'm from the U.S., and can relate to where you are coming from,
Andrea. I have worked with some of those white guys. some are
completely incorrigible, I will grant you that...
But, isn't the bottom line here, that we are all trying to make the
world a better place.. from our bikish perspective? I think of bikes
as a sort of Granfalloon, that holds us bike think tank people
together.. as we try to make our contributions toward a better world..
Am I on my own, thinking this?
I don't have enough information to say, whether participating in Bike
Talk helps further that goal.. but, I would not assume that it doesn't.
Why burn bridges, when you might want to cross them, later?
Happy upcoming New Year, everyone!
Wendy Monroe Amsterdam Noord
On 27 Dec 2009, at 11:38, Bike City wrote:
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!' - herehttp://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/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
-- Bike City Recyclery Fayetteville, Arkansas http://www.bikecityrecyclery.org/ _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...