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!' -
here<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPFK>is 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.org

--
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.org