The walls of our store beam of beautiful bike parts and accessories. There is such plenty (and, admittedly, so little space) that one can easily miss one or two details. This week, we would like to direct your attention to the upper left corner of the wall behind our counter: There is a new sign in town!
We at Broadway Bicycle consider ourselves very fortunate to have people of all kind of genders work at our store. All of us identify in different ways. Some of our mechanics feel at home within the better known categories of female and male. Others like to live outside this binary and define themselves as trans, genderqueer, non-binary … we are always excited to expand the list. Whoever passes through our doors, becomes part of our inclusive and gender-fluid community. This includes an invitation to play with language. She? He? Her? Him? Nevermind! Simply use “they” and “the mechanic” or whatever designation comes to mind. This may feel unusual in the beginning. But the joys of getting rid of singular and gendered boxes are well worth the effort!
Curious to learn more? There is tons of information out there on the web. On changing the world with words: Feministing. For those who like standard references and history: Merriam Webster. And the Washington Post seems to reserve a special place in its heart for the pronoun “they”, lots of articles here … SF