Male Cyclist

I feel very under the hammer at work. It's is an omen of things to come once I move to Mozambique but I'll have to apply what I have learnt to date about work-life balance to maintain some perspective. One of the drivers to go there is the interesting lifestyle so I want opportunities to enjoy it.

Amy bought me this t-shirt, drawing on both a) our love of cycling and b) our frequent conversations about smashing the patriarchy. I want to wear it to bumble around town but no doubt will need to have an explanation to hand in case asked what it means. The broad point is that men rarely need to identify themselves as male as it's generally believed that whenever a cyclist, surgeon or CEO is referred to, that they will be male. I've been surprised even in my organisation to hear female colleagues talk of field positions we're recruiting and assume they will be male. The very programme they were discussing has females in most of the prominent management roles, which made it feel even odder. I'm hyper-aware, especially at work, of the importance of not assuming.

Given the current political climate I wonder whether the t-shirt would be misread as reinforcing my gender and being against the feminist movement. Men who don't appreciate that true equality requires actual effort to achieve like to claim that events over the last year amount to a witch hunt against them. They couldn't be more wrong.

Female cyclist.