The Bike Test is a three part analytical tool for determining whether or not something like an advertisement or event is sexist. It was developed for use in the bicycle industry and advocacy world, but can be applied to any field, and can also work for race, class, sexuality, or other category beyond gender.
Tag Archives: Culture
Sharrows, a mini-review
Posted onIn the vein of my as-if-they-were-rock-albums bike route mini-reviews of last year, here is a general and biased, yet heartfelt, review of sharrows. Sharrows are the Jordan Catalano of bike infrastructure. Remember how you gazed at them across the classroom for hours, drawn to them, longing for them? And then it turned out that they […]
Behind the scenes of BikeSexuality
Posted onWelcome, visitors from Nerve.com! I’ve moved this post up to the top of the stack to give you more background on the type of bike fun you’re looking for. Everyone else – you can now read three excellent and true tales from the BikeSexuality bookette over at Nerve. Enjoy! And then buy the zine to […]
A field guide to "bikewashing"
Posted onBikewashed snack crackers (and they’re natural!) What is “bikewashing”? The word conjures up an image of a bucket of sudsy water, sponges, and people raising money by washing bicycles. It’s a valid use of the term, but there’s a better one. Bikewashing is also the two-wheeled equivalent of greenwashing – the practice of marketing some […]
A critique of Cycle Chic
Posted onA critique of the Cycle Chic (TM) concept (based on the blog founded in Copenhagen in 2006), in which its merits are appreciated, its sexism is not, and the topic of bicycle helmets is mostly ignored.
Call for submissions: Bikes and childhoo...
Posted onUpdate: This zine is currently being funded on Kickstarter now available! It’s official: Taking the Lane #7: BikeSexuality exists, and nearly every order has been mailed. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, drop me an email and I’ll check it out. If you also ordered Pedal, Stretch, Breathe, I may be waiting to mail them […]
Drinking and bicycling, the economic per...
Posted onPeople who go to the bar by bicycle spend more overall, but look like cheapskates. That and other economic lessons can be gleaned from the preliminary results of a research team at Portland State University (funded by the same folks who recently discovered that less driving doesn’t hurt the economy). The bulk of the paper […]
You can't be what you can't see: A call ...
Posted onThis is a guest post by the author of the wonderful new blog Feministic Fitness (who has chosen to keep her pointed commentary anonymous for the time being). You can read a longer version, containing further details of the author’s choice of academics over sports at her blog. Or if you’re inclined to take immediate […]
Bicycle helmets are hilarious (and why I...
Posted onHow exactly did this helmeted piece of postmodern architecture come to exist? I don’t remember precisely. Friend and fellow transpoblogger Gary Kavanagh stayed with us for a night on a recent visit to Portland, and there was a conversation over breakfast the next morning which involved a lot of laughing, and then suddenly Gary is […]
5 ways to include women in bicycling
Posted onI recently was asked to participate in a bike-related event, and enthusiastically said yes. Then I learned more logistical details, which led me to have some second thoughts. I received several emails in response to my questions from several of the (all male) organizers, one of which concluded thusly: “We want women in this ride. […]
Bikes and fashion (and me) meet in Black...
Posted onThe lady in this photo is Sheilanova Molina y Vedia, our host during our brief stay in Austin two weeks ago, looking chic as she headed out to her office, by bike of course. Though we stayed at her house, we only saw her for a few minutes; she was busy organizing a bicycling fashion […]
On tour: From the most fit to the least ...
Posted onOne of the best things about being on tour is we get to see the absolute best of the places we visit. And that’s been true this time around, as our friendly hosts have shown us extensively and generously around their cities and neighborhoods. Their love and knowledge of where they live is infectious and […]
The power of tooting your own horn
Posted onLast weekend in Seattle I was lucky to participate in a roundtable discussion consisting of two of the other Expo presenters, Amy Walker and Ulrike Rodrigues, and women on the staff and board of the Cascade Bicycle Club – all of us leaders in the bike movement, as Kathy McCabe, the CBC’s deputy director and […]
Playing the publishing game
Posted onLast night I participated in Smallpressapalooza, Powell’s Books’ annual celebration of super small scale indie publishing. Out of a breathtaking variety of readings, most of them awesomely good, I was the token non-literary reader (my rendition of this essay was surely informative for all, if comfortable for few). The guy before me had a multimedia […]