@deisum @ellyblue https://t.co/LGFbmSakxZ pic.twitter.com/hoEuEOdLoN — Sam Ollinger (@ollingers) July 10, 2014 After clicking through to the original forum thread to confirm that John Forester’s comments about gender screencapped here were made in earnest, I have nothing to add. Thanks to the strong-stomached Sam Ollinger, director of San Diego advocacy group BikeSD, for going boldy into […]
Tag Archives: Language
Is bicycling a civil rights issue?
Posted onQuick answer: Yes. But make sure your actions are actually on the side you want them to be. I’ve been writing for some time about bicycling and gender. Being female is a condition over which I have little control, and as a result of it I’ve had some funny and tough experiences in the course […]
Putting the Bike Test to the test
Posted onOn Monday afternoon, I posted about the Bike Test, an analytical tool to help the people in the bicycle industry, advocacy, and media to determine if an image or situation is sexist. There’s been quite a response; loads of people coming to read the article, tons of discussion and debate in online forums and social […]
Is this thing sexist? Introducing the "B...
Posted onThe 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.
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.
This is not an International Women's Day...
Posted onThe Internet reminds me that today is International Women’s Day. It’s a day when many of the sites I frequent will highlight the accomplishments of prominent women, or pay special tribute to participants in various aspects of the bike world who are women. This is better than nothing, I suppose, but seeing these posts is […]
Twitter and the grammar of the Occupatio...
Posted on“Bike check!” is how you know the mic check is for the bike swarm. One of the reporters for our local daily has recently started using Twitter, mostly in live reporting Occupy events. Two things were immediately clear: First, that he didn’t really get Twitter (he learned fast) and second that he really didn’t get […]
Why I type funny
Posted onBefore someone uses my computer to look up a bus schedule or check their email, I try to remember to switch it back to normal. But often I don’t catch them until they’ve begun to type and are staring at the gibberish on the screen in baffled frustration. “Your keyboard is broken,” they sometimes say. […]
Protagonism and Horizontalidad
Posted onI’ve been reading A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit. Here’s an excerpt with some new words we could use around here, too. She’s talking about Argentina during its economic crisis a decade ago: “The 2001 meltdown created something akin to disaster’s sense of community. It was […]
Car-freedom, purity, and guilt
Posted onA year ago I decided to start a blog called “Going Carfree” about just that. It never got off the ground but I thought a lot about it and wrote some test content. This essay is the one piece I didn’t want to let go. Rereading it now, it makes me think of the spreading […]
Elements of the grammar wars
Posted onA couple years ago I was at odds and ends and decided to start a blog documenting instances of creative grammar. It was intended as a response to those blogs that make fun of people for misusing apostrophes. I didn’t ever find much time for it, but here’s one of the posts, a mini review […]