Type 2 Diabetic. Cyclist Flâneur.   Coffeeneur.    Errandoneur
A bike / map geek with a gadget obsession and a high-viz fetish.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Ersatz Arborist, Perpetuating the Gender Binary

Sat Oct.1 17m
Sun Oct.2 18m
Tues Oct.4 23m
Oct mtd: 58m ytd:2154

My clients from last week got some link-love from Bike Friday!

Saturday, I got to ride around with my friend Yale. When you ride with Yale, you don't just observe conditions; you fix things! So I ended up as a ersatz arborist:


Sunday I got to ride around with a group of CMU students, pictured below with Mr. Rogers looking over my colleague Becky's shoulder:


Bike Porn: I really like these Salsa low-rider front racks, and the way they embrace both the inside and the outside of the front fork:


Tuesday I got to ride on the Montour Trail with my friend Rusty, and then I got to ride around in Pittsburgh for a little while to run some errands. Took this picture along the Montour Trail:



At the Peters Starbucks I noticed they've implemented new signage for their single-user restrooms, which I think is an improvement on the previous installation.


It's better than what existed before BUT it does perpetuate the gender-binary. Why is that necessary? If they really want to get involved with gender criteria, isn't this better?


lest Ye Groan: I would point out, this is what happens when we conflate "how we've always done it" with actual communications needs. It's ridiculous to have to come to terms with social gender constructs, when the task you want to accomplish is to convey: there is a toilet behind this door.

I believe this sign actually accomplishes the communications need; it says, 'this is a toilet and it's ADA-compliant'. I don't see any need to use the gender-words, but: why quibble? This is so much better.

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