Misogyny and Bikes

A Bridge Too Far

Publicly, I try to separate my world views from my bike and work life.  I don’t share my political leanings; I don’t talk about my thoughts on gender; I don’t share my religious views.

Today is different.

A website just posted a piece entitled, “The best custom bicycle builders in America.”  The author included Seven Cycles.  That’s cool, right?

Not today.  That site is Playboy.

I tried to ignore it all and get on with “more important things.”  But between recent political comments about “playing the woman’s card” and today’s WBUR’s #MoreThanMean I couldn’t ignore Playboy’s sad place in the 21st century — and Seven Cycles’ implicit condoning of that misogynistic outlet.

Playboy’s writer included Seven in the piece without our knowledge; we weren’t contacted or asked for content.  They even used a photo from Seven’s Instagram account.  Apparently we’re all “craftsmen,” too.  I feel like I’m in the 1950’s today.  For the record, about one-third of Seven’s employees are female; many work in production as “craftspeople.”  Two of Seven’s original four founders are women.  I could go on and on.

The perception that Seven had a role in being mentioned in Playboy is embarrassing and frustrating to me.  I would not have agreed to it.  It’s time to step into the 21st — or even 20th — century.