We (Free Ride!) have a biweekly Ladies + Trans night all year. I'm not sure if that's the current name we're using, since there was some concern about finding the best language we could to describe what we intend. There seem to always be a few folks who question whether having a night like ours is a good idea - some of the folks who attend worry that it creates a ghetto that exacerbates existing problems by putting less women/trans folk in our regular shop hours (and reducing the number of women staffers available to staff the regular shifts). We haven't had any serious problems, like bad press, from folks who don't like being excluded from women and trans night.

On occasion someone visiting the shop will ask about it in a way that makes clear their disapproval. Fortunately, I think all of our staffers are comfortable explaining the reasons why we have a women+trans night at the shop when that situation arises. Mostly we focus on communicating that some of the people who attend women+trans night do so because they do not feel comfortable at the shop on the other nights because those nights are attended primarily by males, and that the shop would not be accessible to those people without a womens and trans night.

Recently we had a fellow in the shop who wanted a men's night because he (genuinely, I believe) felt uncomfortable having women around in the shop - I haven't quite figured out what an appropriate response there would be. Similar to the situation Sasha described - I think the lesson here is that exclusive nights can't just be about creating a space where a certain group can avoid things that make them uncomfortable. That creates a slippery slope where we could end up with a cisgendered only night (because trans folks make some people uncomfortable) or a whites/non-whites only night, or other things we'd never actually consider doing. The point, I think, is that we are in a position where we must recognize the broader context, within our bicycle culture and our cities, that these exclusive/safe nights take place in. The reason we have a women+trans night and not a men's night is that we see that, in Pittsburgh and in our shop, cisgender males typically occupy positions of power. It's that context in combination with an expressed desire for an exclusive space, that makes our women+trans night appropriate.

Stuart

On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 10:52 AM, freeridemp@riseup.net wrote:

Hey Bike Shops, Does anyone else hold a Women and Trans night or Ladies' night? I know Plan B does. We had a weekly one last summer and will be having another this summer. The women who have held the shift have found it effective to keep the shift exclusive, closed to male-bodied masculine-identifying people. We have had a backlash from one of our members, who accuses us of sexism, discrimination, and injustice. We have gotten some incomplete and bad press.

Please let me know if you hold a shift like this one, exclusive or not, and what you have done about any complaints your membership or community has had.

Thanks, Colin Gunn Freeride Montpelier Montpelier, VT www.freeridemontpelier.org

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Last year we were approached about having a women's night. Initially
I was a bit indignant at a perceived implication that our shop was
not women-friendly, because we've been careful to draft policies and
to make sure people in the shop behave themselves. But as the
dialogue continued I realized that regardless of how "friendly" we
thought ourselves to be, there indeed were women that thought our
shop to be a bit intimidating.

So it was agreed to try it out, though we did not have the volunteer
resources to just start opening extra evenings, so we said "if you
think there's a need for this then you have to make it happen". We
did not yet have a woman on staff (as a trained mechanic), so I
volunteered to open the shop and keep out of their way when they did
the first two sessions. Those were not well-attended, but it was
also late in the season. A recent one had 12 people out, so that was
good and come Spring (ok, it's Spring now but once this snow all
melts) we're looking at making this at least a monthly thing to
start, and move to weekly if there is enough demand.

One happy benefit is that one of the women who has been organizing
this is now on her way to becoming our first female Head Mechanic!
So she'll be able to take over completely and women's night will
truly only have women involved. Also, one of the recent attendees
has been coming in as a regular volunteer. We'd like to think that
having more women in the shop will balance things out and eliminate
the need for a separate evening, but until societal attitudes change
we have to accept that there will be a demand. I like to think we'll
get there, some day...

As for a men-only night, well, it was observed when talking about a
women's night that there are strong and confident women who won't let
any men intimidate them, but there are also quiet, meek guys who
could be equally intimidated by our shop. No answer for that, aside
from observing that coming into a slightly chaotic community-based
endeavour such as ours could be tougher for Introverts in general.

Mark Rehder - Director http://re-cycles.ca