Puerile sexist shite

Spot on...

We are so diverse a society that to use a gender determiner to define who we are is an absolute waste of time. Yes there are biological markers, but in terms of social characteristics there is no one behaviour or character trait that can be attached to one of these groups.

Not all gay men are effeminate, not all women like kittens, not all scousers are criminals... And so it goes...

In the context of this thread - and the site as a whole - there is sexism, and lots of it at that, but it affects us all in different ways. Some, like myself and Fred, are acutely aware of it, others, like Plurabelle (I think?) aren't as much. This isn't an exclusively female domain, but as Tracey Emin said in the Guardian this week:

"I don't think about feminism - I have a strong voice and I'm quite feisty but there are a lot of women who aren't and they need to have laws protecting them and rights too."

Ach, no, I totally agree with you. I'm a mad feminist, me :-) I just meant that on this particular site I think that the neanderthal-type sexists are in a minority. It seems to me that there is a dominant tone on here which is intelligent, enlightened, and pretty solidly liberal. That's not to say that there isn't any sexism, of course. My point was supposed to be a subtle one, which probably was badly made – that the more insidious form of sexism on here, as far as I've observed, is in small assumptions evident in countless posts that aren't on the face of it offensive at all, but which incrementally build an image of cycling as a somehow profoundly 'male' activity. Which is obviously baws :-)