Just some thoughts and ideas going around in my head while trying to figure out where I am and where everyone else is going.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Philly Naked Bike Ride 2010

Perhaps the two or three things that I noticed most and asked myself about at the Philly Naked Bike Ride was how much better organized it was this year over last year, the two or three people who were riding motorcycles which sort of defeated the purpose of the protest and how many onlookers seemed to be “size queens.”

Even though I would say that at least a third of the riders were women, most people tended not to worry or judge the refreshingly freed titties that were jiggling up and down the street, but they did feel the need to state their thoughts about the exposed and unleashed male genitalia and how small they thought everyone was. I heard one guy say to his wife or girlfriend that he felt better now and not so small as he compared himself to the riders. Even I marveled at one point where I saw a fellow gym member whose dick is usually thick and at half mast with a lurid smile on his face whenever he’s in the locker room (shudder), look relaxed and normal. Obviously the message has been lost.

I think, and you can find this on the organization’s website, the whole reason for the ride is that there is an unreasonable dependency on unsustainable fossil fuel. They ride because there is a lack of respect for bike riders on the street by car drivers and they ride nude not just for attention to the cause, but because of the need for body acceptance and the awareness that not everyone can look like Pamela Anderson and Terrell Owens or whoever people think as good looking.

Perhaps next year they will do more to educate the public on what their message is but until then a little video.

14 comments:

  1. I was wondering what the purpose was of the bikers riding nude, I should have figured that it had much to do with respect and to take notice to bikers on the rode, so very often we tend to disregard the bikers in traffic, but during the nude ride we take notice just as we should when they're clothed. This is the second year you've been a spectator instead of a participator. Get Naked!

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  2. Curious, thanks for rolling through and wishing me well. I will still be checking in on you and a few others, but with work and school I'm just too busy to write...

    Now, on to the bike riding... I get the riding. I sorta get riding nude to draw attention to the greater issue of conservation and a greener lifestyle. I guess I think the message could be too easily lost when we are such a sexually driven culture, but I am happy for all efforts to educate the public on the over use of fossil fuels.

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  3. Wow. Never heard of this event. I agree with previous poster - I can see how the message would be lost, but I applaud the effort. Here in Columbus, there are a lot of bike riders near OSU campus, and a lot of times people are cautious. However, in other areas of the city drivers seem to have no idea how to drive with bikers on the road.

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  4. Chet - Since I don't have a bike it might be a little awkward running down the street with my bits and bobs dangling like a crazy man. And it would be even crazier for me to by a bike just for the one occasion.


    Ingrid - Yes our dependence on oil, both foreign and domestic, is the source of so many of our troubles today. This protest or rally is just a small way of saying that maybe there can be alternatives that we will be able to live with.


    KST - This is a world wide event and even this is only the second year that it's happened in Philadelphia, some other cities in the US and Canada and many of the capitals of Europe and have been doing this for a while now. And yes I've seen too many times where drivers will treat bike riders as if they had no right to share the streets. There is an "us" against "them" attitude that doesn't really need to exist and this just highlights it.

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  5. Hey Nice blog. I believe that the message can still be promoted. Its a shame that the perverse nature of man took over. I like the message we must learn and find other alternatives instead of using domestic and foreign oil and that we must respect pedestrians and bike riders. I also like the fact that we all can't be J. Lo or LL Cool J. Love the message. Get ride of the size queens lol

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  6. ♫Hershey's Kiss♫ - Unfortunately sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

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  7. Corve DaCosta - Freedom! Don't you love it?

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  8. Great message but I do see how it could get over shadowed.

    "the refreshingly freed titties that were jiggling up and down the street"

    LMAO...too funny

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  9. Some of those dudes were jive like small, dude. But hey, perhaps theyre growers not showers. They get mad props from me tho for having the balls to do this. I might be a nudist, but Iont get nekkid around cameras. I dont like to leave evidence, lol.

    L

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  10. Toy - That's why I think the organizers have to work on it a little more. When the message is overshadowed by the messenger, then something has to change.


    Lola - Without trying to get too personal, I know for myself and I'm sure for others too, there are different lengths for different environments. It would only be natural for a man's self-protection to kick in so that he doesn't get caught somewhere between his saddle and the bicycle chain.
    ...Oh and if you are going to protest something then what better way is there than by having cameras around to show what you stand for and what you are willing to do for it? I want to see you when they do this in DC next year.

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  11. Ya know, I don't think I'd want to put my bare ass on a bicycle seat. That might be just a tad too weird for me.

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    Replies
    1. Sometimes it takes being weird for a protest to work and for people to take notice of it.

      Delete

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