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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!reed!ellen
From: ellen@reed.UUCP (Ellen Eades)
Newsgroups: net.women,net.bicycle
Subject: Bicycles, Women, Violence and Hatred
Message-ID: <1684@reed.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 13-Jul-85 11:13:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: reed.1684
Posted: Sat Jul 13 11:13:43 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 15-Jul-85 01:17:10 EDT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon
Lines: 38
Xref: linus net.women:5944 net.bicycle:1074

This is a variation on the standard "Bicycles, Violence and
Hatred" theme, and also a modification of part of my statements
in net.women regarding "Last Night."

I've been biking to work now for over a month daily and I have
noticed that *every* *single* *day* *without* *fail* I am
harassed by some asshole who wants to hang out the window of
his car and prove he's macho by yelling some obscenity at me.
I don't know whether this is a comment on the insecurity of
males upon seeing a female bicyclist or what, but it's the
truth.  So ...

In my discussion of verbal harassment in net.women I commented
that I would not yell obscenities back at the man who exposed
himself on a street corner to me (in my car).  I'm discovering
that you can't be politically correct while traveling down 
a street at 30mph (what a discovery), and that there are,
indeed, times when all I want to do is flip the guy off
and let the incident pass from my now-untroubled mind.  I
haven't yet run into anyone who has circled the block and
come back to "get me."  Besides, after five weeks of this stuff,
I don't care about convincing the asshole to respect me;  I
don't respect him.

So yesterday when I was harassed I gave the guy the finger,
said "F*** you," and kept going.  To the idiot who yelled
"Nice tits," I came back with "I didn't grow them for you!"

It felt *wonderful*.

Ellen Eades
-- 
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	"Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?"
	"I read it in a book," said Alice.
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	tektronix!reed!ellen OR tektronix!reed!motel6!ellen