Glossy photos of girls on bikes!

Hi Fred, if you took the time to read the origional post by Emilia -'Can't you just take our word for it that **we **don't like it, even if you don't understand why? After all, we do that when you tell us that being kicked in the balls in painful.' You would see that the reference to women understanding that men don't like to be kicked in the balls is completely general, in a new paragragh this implies that the ' our' an 'we' highlighted above are also generally inclusive. Your instant anger and cheap insult make a very clear statement of your own lack of evolution.

I did read it but interpreted it totally differently:

Can't you just take our word for it that we don't like it, even if you don't understand why? After all, we do that when you tell us that being kicked in the balls in painful.

I didn't interpret this as emilia speaking for all women at all. In fact her previous sentences make this very point:

Then maybe you don't get it. Some women ***feel very uncomfortable ***with images (and threads) like these, ***and others will ***subliminally get the message that girls on bikes, no matter what their achievements, are meant to be something sexy and desirable, and will feel inadequate if they're not. I've had a lot of trouble with this in various cycling communities, and men are by no means the only culprits.

so in context, her second para was referring to the group of women who do feel uncomfortable, not all women.

I take your point about then referring to what you see as a generalisation about all men feeling pain when being kicked in the balls but can offer you two refutations:

1. it doesn't change the validity of the argument - we (men and women) are allowed to objectify bikes because they *are *objects. We should not be objectifying women (or men) because they are not objects.

2. Maybe you don't get it, not all men are so sensitive and it is quite possible you don't speak for all men. :-)

Your instant anger and cheap insult make a very clear statement of your own lack of evolution.

true. it was unhelpful - apologies.