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Feminism and a world designed for men

I thought I'd update my search for a bike. So far, I've gone to three shops. Every one tried to sell me a bike that didn't fit as a first offering. I test road two bikes that were so big that I almost crashed just testing riding them.

The first shop was pretty discouraging. I was grudgingly shown a bike that didn't fit and the guy just walked away. I've since found out that he has a reputation as an asshole. You really have to work to get a two-star review on Yelp (Re-Cycled Bicycle - Lincoln, NE).

The second shop was better. The first cycle I was shown didn't fit. I test road it and almost crashed. However, rather than just walking away, he showed me a bike that was designed for a smaller person. I test road it and it was a decent bike, but it was a Townie bike. Better fit, just not what I was looking for.

Third shop I was shown a bike that didn't fit and test road it. Again, I felt like I was going to crash it. However, the shop guy spent a little bit of time talking to me and he gave me a better idea of what I'm looking for. It's not a road bike, but a gravel bike. It's designed for riding long distances on a bike trail on loose soil. He showed me a 42 cm Trek gravel bike and it was heaven. The only sticking point was the cost: $1,300. I'll have to save up for it. I wrote the information down and took his card so he's likely to get some business from me.

Plus there will be other and possibly less expensive options now you know what you need.

Shame you're not near weepiper 's neck of the woods.
 
There is a lot of inertia in business decisions too. Nobody is going to get fired for maintaining the status quo. Pushing the company to do something that nobody else is doing is a risk for the one who pushed it. Maybe there are good reasons why nobody else is doing it — better to keep your mouth shut and accept missing an opportunity rather than put yourself on the line and risk looking an idiot.

I’m not trying to be deliberately obtuse and I do get the points being made. If it is because of the status quo why the female cycle market is being overlooked then they’re missing a trick. Because clearly women are saying there isn’t a product where one is desired.
 
I’m not trying to be deliberately obtuse and I do get the points being made. If it is because of the status quo why the female cycle market is being overlooked then they’re missing a trick. Because clearly women are saying there isn’t a product where one is desired.

You're good at building stuff... :)
 
I don’t have the capital for a business. Plus I’m trying to make film type stuff.
This is the problem writ large. You have been convinced that there is a giant untapped market out there but the gulf between having that knowledge and actually having a viable business is enormous. Meanwhile, those who already have businesses have no need to risk their capital on the untapped market, because they’re doing fine as they are.
 
This is the problem writ large. You have been convinced that there is a giant untapped market out there but the gulf between having that knowledge and actually having a viable business is enormous. Meanwhile, those who already have businesses have no need to risk their capital on the untapped market, because they’re doing fine as they are.

That's how businesses peter out over time, not exploring new niches, not acknowledging change.
 
That's how businesses peter out over time, not exploring new niches, not acknowledging change.
That’s right, they do. They do in their droves. Of the original FTSE 100 formed in 1984, at most 28 remain in that index (not sure what the 2022 figure is). This fact doesn’t mean that the market fills the niches, it shows that the market does not fill the niches.
 
That’s right, they do. They do in their droves. Of the original FTSE 100 formed in 1984, at most 28 remain in that index (not sure what the 2022 figure is). This fact doesn’t mean that the market fills the niches, it shows that the market does not fill the niches.

How is millions of women cyclists around the globe a “niche”. It’s the least niche business idea I’ve ever heard of.
 
I’m very confused how the market is led by patriarchy and not market forces. But as I said, if the desire for a product exists but doesn’t some capitalist somewhere is missing out.

So long as the product can be feasibly created and it can all be done without the end cost to the user outweighing the desire, at least.
 
So long as the product can be feasibly created and it can all be done without the end cost to the user outweighing the desire, at least.

I suppose it would reduce the sales of the existing bikes and split the market and make it all less profitable. So you’re all probably right.
 
I suppose it would reduce the sales of the existing bikes and split the market and make it all less profitable. So you’re all probably right.

No, I just meant those are the natural constraints.
If you had such a gap that you could exploit profitably, then you would be taking disproportionately from other manufacturers who had hitherto been selling an inferior product.
 
No, I just meant those are the natural constraints.
If you had such a gap that you could exploit profitably, then you would be taking disproportionately from other manufacturers who had hitherto been selling an inferior product.

But surely the superior product wins in the game of Capitalism? So if bikes appeared that better suited the female anatomy and stature, those would be bought over the ones that don’t. That’s how the market is supposed to work with its deadly efficiency.
 
But surely the superior product wins in the game of Capitalism? So if bikes appeared that better suited the female anatomy and stature, those would be bought over the ones that don’t. That’s how it’s supposed to work with its deadly efficiency.

That's what I said. So you have a company that makes, say 20% all of bikes and let's say half of them are suboptimal for women, and there are 4 other companies doing the same, then when you make bikes that are better for women you are then failing to sell some of your "men's" stock and selling to women instead (who are happier, and preferentially buy from your company for their daughters), but you also capture a heap of trade from those companies selling 50% of their bikes that aren't optimal for women. ie. taking disproportionately from other manufacturers.
 
lol what. We've been playing capitalism for ages now, and everything is shit and falls apart.

Say what you like, but those Trabants had a decent lifespan.

Helped along a little by the decade that you had to wait between ordering and delivery, but still...
 
Say what you like, but those Trabants had a decent lifespan.

Helped along a little by the decade that you had to wait between ordering and delivery, but still...
I saw one recently, parked in front of some shops near me around 2-3 weeks ago, looked to be in good condition.
 
I saw one recently, parked in front of some shops near me around 2-3 weeks ago, looked to be in good condition.

People are quite careful with a vehicle that takes 10 years to turn up.

It also meant that used Trabants often sold for much more than new ones because you could get it right away.
 
Also a world designed for white people:

 
And on another health related issue


i can reveal that a new government-backed study has found that artificial intelligence models built to identify people at high risk of liver disease from blood tests are twice as likely to miss disease in women as in men

:facepalm:
:mad:
 
Also a world designed for white people:


Since that one's about melanin levels, how would this work?

The researchers found that the pulse oximeter overestimated blood-oxygen saturation by an average of 1.7 percent for Asian patients, 1.2 percent for Black patients, and 1.1 percent for Hispanic patients.

Even though it's based on self-ID rather than checking whatever skin colour someone had (which the study acknowledges as a limitation, since it's melanin which makes the difference technically), why would Asian patients get more false positives than black patients?

The study also found that black and Hispanic patients experienced delays in treatment. That would, sadly, make sense, but not because of the pulse oximeters, which would mean they got treatment quicker than Asian patients, who aren't mentioned.

It kinda strikes me as blaming technology for the more widespread racism in the system.
 
I had a friend who was constantly dismissed by her GP with a cystitis diagnosis. This was over the course of years. Then she happened to see a locum GP who got her to do a urine test, was horrified just looking at it and referred her to a specialist. She died of bladder cancer about a year later after radical surgery and radiotherapy.

Now she was about 40 when all this happened and I get that she didn't fall into the typical demographic for that kind of cancer but FFS. Maybe if the GP hadn't been so dismissive when she was sure it wasn't cystitis, things would've turned out differently.
Yeh, a similar story here - Many years ago a woman I knew was regularly ill and her family all thought it was cancer, a view which was pooh-poohed by doctors until the final weeks of her life when she finally received the diagnosis which if made ten years earlier might have saved her life. About 28 years since she died, still think of her. RIP sylvia
 
I'm still reading 'Invisible women' by Caroline Criado Perez I can only read a page at a time as it makes me so angry.

I'm still reading the chapter on drugs and how women have been excluded from clinical trails and the consequences for women's health. It's making my blood boil!

There are sex differences in adverse reactions to drugs the number one being 'that some drugs simply don't work for women. '

'Some drugs commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure .... lower men's mortality from heart attack, but to increase cardiac-related deaths among women' 'Statins have mostly been tested in men'

'Gender neutral doses in many meds puts women at risk of overdosing'
Her conclusion: 'Women are dying and the medical world is complicit'

Some countries now insist on drug trails on both sexes - but not the UK.
 
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