There’s a lot of energy and momentum around #30DaysofBiking. And for a good reason! It is a movement that celebrates the joy of biking, the ease of biking, and they support a charity that hooks kids up with bikes. What’s not to love? I will be participating, mostly on Twitter, @greaseragmpls.
I will also be challenging myself to do something different for the next 30 days: 30 Days of Gender Reppin’!
Shyness, Selfies, Social
A CRUCIAL part of #30DOB is snapping selfies for social. Haha, but really! Merriam Webster added “selfie” to the dictionary last year, so this is no longer something the mainstream can ignore- selfies are a legitimate way we express ourselves. As a shy person, I felt weird for a long time about posting photos of myself, mostly because I didn’t want people to think [insert anti-woman, slut-shaming, etc. anxieties here] of me, and I didn’t want to be mocked for my mock duck face.
Over time, the #FeministSelfie movement (mentioned in this post) helped me embrace the selfie, because I should not be ashamed to love my own image, and there is no shame in celebrating and broadcasting that! And when I feel that my voice and my image are not represented by mainstream media?? What can I do?? Self publish some self love via selfie:
Yeah, grrrl!
Presentin’, Reppin’, Sharin’
I love representing my identities. I love showing that I am a brown woman on a bike. Maybe another brown woman considering biking will see me and be encouraged in knowing that it is possible, and that biking (and ruling the world) are for us too. Seeing is believing!
But… is that who I am? Don’t I contain multitudes? Is my identity not constantly shifting and changing and growing?
Someone I have known for a long time recently asked me if I identified as transgender. I wasn’t offended by the question because there is nothing wrong with being trans*, but I said no, because I don’t identify as such. Apparently they asked me because I am so vocal about trans* inclusion and trans* visibility that it made them wonder. But the unspoken piece of this, I think, is that they probably asked because they couldn’t quite pin me down to one part of the gender spectrum.
So… no hashtag needed, but I am challenging myself to 30 days of gender representation and gender identity real talk, and part of that challenge is sharing with you. Stay tuned, Friends.