"Ride like a girl"... How do you feel about that?

[Wahine]

Forget the sticker!! I want to run like a Jamaican girl!!!!

[sundial]

I grew up as a tomboy, digging in the dirt, jumping off the top of the jungle gym with the boys, etc.

I used to chuck dirt clods at my brother and his friends, play in the mud, jump of the roof with my parachute (an old sheet that was supposed to break my fall), climb trees, and I whined big time when my brother got a pocket knife and I didn't. Oh, and the chemistry set too. I don't care for the "ride like a girl" addage. It sounds too juvenile to me. I do like the Rosie the Riveter slogan, "We can do it." I guess it has to do with the iconography of the slogan and the context it's taken.

I don't know what the targeted market is with Terry, but I wonder how much of their merchandise is sold to ladies in their teens and 20's vs. 30+ or so. I think I remember Georgena's earlier motive was to get as many young people moving and if that encourages them to ride, then maybe they have accomplished their goal.

[Trek420]

Forget the sticker!! I want to run like a Jamaican girl!!!!

Where is the swimsuit that says "swim like a 41 year old Mom"

[Sgritn]

I like the slogan--I think it's cute and I like CUTE...kind of taking the negative out of the saying for me. I do not find it insulting or demeaning.

[Skierchickie]

I like the saying (because I think of it in sort of an empowered, "I can do anything they can do" way), but I don't care for the emblem. Looks to cutesy and pinky for me. It doesn't offend me in any way, just doesn't suit my taste. And it seems like the emblem detracts from the meaning I choose to draw from the saying. So I probably won't be buying any.

However, I do have an "I run like a girl" license plate frame, and a Runner Girl sticker on my ski box. The frame has no picture, and neither is pink.

My very favorite, I have to say, is my new Life is Good shirt that says "Run like a dog"! My dog runs with great joy, complete abandon, and a huge smile on her face! And very, very fast. And never gets crabby while running (unlike me ). If I could do anything like anyone, it would be her.

I did think of this thread today after chicking my DH on a big hill today, and pretty much every hill thereafter, on our 83-miler.

[Tuckervill]

I didn't give birth to any girls, so I don't know too many of them that are in their 20s (like my sons). So this is a random, tiny sample.

The girls I do know seem way different than the girl I was. When I was a teenager, you could either be a tomboy or a girly-girl. Everyone wanted me to be a girly-girl, but I was a tomboy through and through. Most of the tomboys I knew were not the most attractive girls, either. But the girls I know today--so many of them athletic and not afraid of sweat--and yet still putting on the make-up and dressing up for the prom. Still interested in the clothes and all that other stuff. But they get their sweat on and compete in sports and I think it's AWESOME.

They're post-Title IX girls, who grew up knowing the sports were there in (somewhat) equal measure, so it's a fact of life for them. I was in junior high when Title IX went into effect. I remember when my cousins played half-court basketball in high school. These girls don't even know half-court existed.

They are SO lucky. (But don't tell Phyllis Schlafley.)

Karen

[TahoeDirtGirl]

I never really thought of it as offensive I guess. I was online buying my second Terry saddle and I saw the RLAG line and looked at the shirts and I guess it's the emblem I didn't like. See if they did it like the "Life Is Good" with a girl on it on a mtn bike, wouldn't it be more appealing? That is my opinion I guess.

FWIW I ride a pink bike. The frame is the only pink on it. It's a tribute to 2 women, and now a third since I bought the bike, that had breast cancer. One of the three died so it means more to me. Pink to me is strength. It's that hidden strength that men will never be able to understand. It's a quiet yet powerful strength and like someone said, it's better if they made things that were sort of secretive like the strength that women hold. I had two women behind me in a car in NYC laughing at me and then passed me and said "ugly bike" as it was on the back of my Jeep. I don't have much to say about that other than: clueless.

As for the girl connotation, I find it a phrase that those you feel close to can use. If a guy that I didn't know called me a girl, I would probably be a little taken aback. If one of my riding buddies from the LBS called me a girl, I wouldn't blink. I even used it in a thread on Jeni's race report. Jeni, I hope I didn't offend you!!!

Riding like a girl, to me, means you can pick through the best rock garden and ride a good line. It means you aren't a nutbar and ride sensibly. To me, it means I can power up hills and usually pass guys cross country. It also means that when a group of us get lost, I'm the one that tries to keep them all chipper while I figure out how to get out of the woods. It also means I'm usually the one with more water, an extra tube and a power bar that someone always seems to need by the end of a long ride.

I agree it's kinda cutsie. And I had to laugh when someone posted about pedicures. I work in a very male dominated field and wear no jewelry, no make up. But pull off those "sock guy Beaver socks" and there are some of the best pedicured feet and sometimes a toe ring to boot. I think to me, it *could* mean that girls have the best of both worlds: a strong rider and we clean up nice

[TahoeDirtGirl]

They're post-Title IX girls, who grew up knowing the sports were there in (somewhat) equal measure, so it's a fact of life for them. I was in junior high when Title IX went into effect. I remember when my cousins played half-court basketball in high school. These girls don't even know half-court existed.

They are SO lucky. (But don't tell Phyllis Schlafley.)

Karen

I had to do another post for this. Title IX changed the landscape for us. I remember trying to find athletic wear when I was in high school. Forget it. Jogbra was the first athletic bra I bought and I STILL HAVE IT from 1989. I think we tend to forget that it wasn't that long ago that we were limited in both high school and college sports. Now we can actually get something with RLAG on it, forget it, you wouldn't have found this 20 years ago.

[Irulan]

Riding like a girl, to me, means you can pick through the best rock garden and ride a good line. It means you aren't a nutbar and ride sensibly. To me, it means I can power up hills and usually pass guys cross country. It also means that when a group of us get lost, I'm the one that tries to keep them all chipper while I figure out how to get out of the woods. It also means I'm usually the one with more water, an extra tube and a power bar that someone always seems to need by the end of a long ride.

LOL, why is it that we girls usually have a better stocked camel back?

[Wahine]

Where is the swimsuit that says "swim like a 41 year old Mom"

Yeah!! I want that swimsuit too!!!

[Zen]

I like my Harlot t-shirt
It has the same message without being cute.I haven't worn anything cute since fourth grade.

From the Harlot homepage:

The reclaiming of a derogatory word

Language is a funny thing. Words can have multiple meanings and change over time. "Awful" used to mean awe-inspiring, and "artificial" used to mean artistic. (Not to mention silly linguistics such as "phat".) If you don't like a word's meaning, change it!
That's what were trying to do with Harlot. There is something to be said for labeling yourself before someone else does it for you. If a bunch of us start calling ourselves harlots, and we are all smart, self-reliant, independent women, then the word starts to be associated with strong women rather than loose women. (Not that there is anything wrong with being loose!) Over time, any derogatory power that word had is removed. Don't you think we owe it to our foremothers of the bicycle who endured name-calling and ridicule just so we can all ride our bikes to make that happen?

[Irulan]

that reminds me, I have some "ride like a harlot" socks too...


www.harlotwear.com

[shootingstar]

Guess I didn't see the RLAG line had anything to do with the old way of thinking of tomboy vs. more feminine ways.

I seriously never distinguished between tomboyish girls and all other girls when growing up. Just saw the more athletic girls having a great skill that other girls didn't have but then the "other" girls had other stronger skills.

You know, growing up with 4 sisters who were all polite but abit driven in what we liked to do and nuts, where we argued ferociously with one another..it would be an enormousl protest/struggle if any of us claimed 1-2 of us were more tomboy than the other.

So the RLAG line is..just a fun line for outside of work.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

that reminds me, I have some "ride like a harlot" socks too...


www.harlotwear.com

There is always room for a pair of harlot socks in my sock drawer!

[BiketoWork Barb]

I did think of this thread today after chicking my DH on a big hill today, and pretty much every hill thereafter, on our 83-miler.

My sweet husband told me about the term "getting chicked" the other day, when I managed to dig deep and pass a guy who had just passed us on a good-sized hill probably 20 or so miles into the ride.

For context, I'm a daily commuter who does occasional long rides on the weekends, and sporadic sessions with Coach Troy on Spinervals DVDs. Overtaking a guy on a hill feels pretty good and I can't take it for granted.

So then I was riding home from work a week ago, pedaling up a tiny upslope, and heard a cyclist coming up behind me.

I'm not ego-free so when an old guy (as in, fluffy white hair, polyester pants and a windbreaker like my dad wore golfing, and open grocery bag-style carrier bags on his panniers with handles flapping in the freeze) buzzed by me like I was standing still, I started working on the phrase to describe this experience. Had I been gramped? Geezered?

Then I saw the electric assist motor on his bike. I felt much better.

--barb
www.biketoworkbarb.blogspot.com