Grease Rag encourages and celebrates FTW (Femmes, Trans, Women, Non-Binary, Two-Spirit people) in a safer space. FTW includes trans men, trans women, cis women, agender, gender queer, and gender fluid folks! FTW does not include “cis men who benefit from cis male privilege.”
Safety of Femmes/Trans/Women (FTW) is Everything
Grease Rag spaces are “safer spaces.” The most important thing to know about safer spaces is that we are constantly learning how to make our spaces safer for the most historically marginalized in our community. Safety means spaces where we reduce harm for people who experience violence or discrimination due to their appearance or identity. We acknowledge that no space is completely safe for any of us, but that safer spaces are places where we can be our whole selves because we collectively resist and heal from the forces that oppress us, which can take the form of sexism, racism, transphobia, ableism, homophobia, and more.
Grease Rag Promotes Safer Spaces
“Safety” doesn’t mean comfort. It means that while we are in a Grease Rag space together, we all commit to trying to identify and fight oppression, we commit to holding each other accountable when we cause harm, apologizing, and learning from our mistakes. Specifically, Grease Rag attempts to make safer spaces through facilitation, centering trans and femme folks, centering Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), sharing and respecting names and pronouns, not making assumptions about gender, bodies, sexuality, and creating an atmosphere of respect and inclusivity.
We will identify FTWs who can support you in staying safe.
We won’t use gendered greetings and terms- these terms cannot contain us.
We will not interrogate or assume anyone’s identity.
Please lean on Grease Rag with your concerns, large or small.
Femmes/Trans/Women (FTW) often don’t feel safe and included when in a space with unwelcome sexual advances, homophobic or transphobic “jokes”and language, macho showmanship, lack of respect for pronouns, belittling insider lingo, negative comments on someone’s gear or ability, excluding people based on gender/race/ability/orientation. If you experience or witness this in a grease rag space, call it out or talk to an organizer or safety person if you need support. These behaviors and actions will be called out and you might be asked to leave the Grease Rag space. We cannot guarantee the safety of our spaces but we can agree to work together for spaces that are anti-sexist/transphobic/racist/ableist/classist.
Resources
Over the years, our volunteers have compiled and created many resources about safer spaces and how we are learning and growing every day. There are many safer spaces blog posts to explore, including:
- JJ writes about the importance of trans and GNC safer spaces for them, personally.
- Detailed examples of how we made safer spaces at Babes in Bikeland, a large annual FTW event, with vendors, service providers, racers, and volunteers.
- We train volunteers and facilitators to promote safer spaces with language and consent.
- We are prepared for dealing with conflict when supporting safer spaces.
- Learn all about the importance of pronouns.