The closest one to me is an hour drive away. I'll definitely keep it in mind though. Maybe I could help start one up if I ever settle down anywhere. :)
There was a discussion here about the idea that a title of 'women and trans' outs transmen who might not want to be outed.
Could it be women, queers and allies or something? I feel like there are men who are total sweeties, and not at all patriarchal who also need safe space. Can't we just make policy to ask offensive people to leave?
I hope this doesn't seem attacking... just thinking out loud.
The open shop nights are open to all adults, and we try to keep the space as inclusive as we can. For practical purposes though, that means allowing people who are intoxicated, mentally ill, or have a swastika tattoo to work on their bikes as well.
The idea of a women is less than perfect in a few other ways too. Other places have said that some women are not comfortable with the idea of it being a trans inclusive night at all - but I can't speak if that is the case here. Also, I think it does make the other shop nights even more male dominated - which is uncomfortable.
I think one of the goals of the women & trans night is to avoid the guys who are patriarchal sweeties as well as patriarchal assholes.
Are you saying you've heard it makes the other shop nights in other cities more male dominated? Or is that just a fear?
The regular nights seem almost completely male dominated as is - I have a hard time picturing it getting much worse. But if women who are currently attending regular shop nights stop attending because they feel more welcome in the W/T only space, that in itself demonstrates the need for a space that is friendlier to women.
Besides, it could swing the other way: getting more practice might make the Bike Dump's non-male clientel more confident in their abilities, so they'll feel more comfortable attending regular nights.
That's awesome! I wish Tacoma's bike collective had a women's night. There's always boys working in there and I don't really feel comfortable asking questions, as if I'm some annoying kid sister and it's not my business anyway, or something. But I know that's probably not how they feel, the problem is that most Tacoma anarchist men are too shy/self-conscious to go out of their way to make the environment welcoming.
The Bike Dump has an explicit mission of helping people learn to fix their bikes. Maybe yours has decided to be just a tool-sharing thing - but if not, someone should open their eyes to their own privilege. Anarchists without any sense of accountability terrify me.
The lack of accountability thing bothers me, too. Of the people I know, nearly all of them have huge communication issues, and the general feelings towards holding meetings (to address such issues) is that they're lame/boring/cheesy/Democrat-ish/etc. Which is why this bike "collective" (or whatever it is) is kinda laissez faire, without structure. People seem to think that's what anarchism, but I totally disagree. Some of us (me, Brian, Glenn, and Katie being part of that small group) have decided to at least make a commitment to each other, be up front, talk about issues, get shit done, etc. Unfortunately, it's the people in the group who already had great communication skills and don't need to be confronted about patriarchy or whatever. We actually started a collective of sorts, meeting Thursdays and we're opening an infoshop on the 27th in the main floor of the G Street house.
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http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/freebike-usa.htm
And they seem pretty easy to start up!
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Could it be women, queers and allies or something? I feel like there are men who are total sweeties, and not at all patriarchal who also need safe space. Can't we just make policy to ask offensive people to leave?
I hope this doesn't seem attacking... just thinking out loud.
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The idea of a women is less than perfect in a few other ways too. Other places have said that some women are not comfortable with the idea of it being a trans inclusive night at all - but I can't speak if that is the case here. Also, I think it does make the other shop nights even more male dominated - which is uncomfortable.
I think one of the goals of the women & trans night is to avoid the guys who are patriarchal sweeties as well as patriarchal assholes.
Some of my thoughts.
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The regular nights seem almost completely male dominated as is - I have a hard time picturing it getting much worse. But if women who are currently attending regular shop nights stop attending because they feel more welcome in the W/T only space, that in itself demonstrates the need for a space that is friendlier to women.
Besides, it could swing the other way: getting more practice might make the Bike Dump's non-male clientel more confident in their abilities, so they'll feel more comfortable attending regular nights.
Might be good to keep count and track changes...
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