Abstract:

In spite of the radical changes brought in by new communication technologies, bicycle messengers are still integral to many urban economies throughout the world. While all messengers creatively navigate through dense, hostile traffic on the streets, women face additional challenges in this male-dominated occupation. They not only confront gendered expectations, difficulties and harassment from coworkers and the public, but also experience struggles to access restrooms during their workday. This is an overlooked - but crucial - corporeal challenge of bike messengering: how, when, and where to excrete while on the job. The issue of restroom access is compounded by instances of gendered policing, based on a stereotype that a bike messenger is an aggressive male. Drawing from ethnographic research in two North American cities and additional interview material, this article will first offer an overview of the job and then examine how women messengers work in this male-dominated occupational world. Next, it will consider inequities of toilet access, gatekeeping and belonging, and how messengers are excluded from office restroom facilities. Finally, it will examine rationale for, as well as the geographic strategies that women messengers employ during their workdays in order to excrete in (relative) peace.

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Keywords: Traffic; bike messengers; work geographies; toilets; gendered labour

Upcoming Presenters
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Date            Speaker
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Jul 27          Jane Ferguson
Aug 3          Alison Witchard
Aug 10        Hans Baer
Aug 17        Avail
Aug 24        Debra McDougall
Fri Aug 26   Michael Hertzfeld
Aug 31         Avail
Sep 21         Avail
Oct 5            Avail
Oct 12          Bonnie McConnell
Oct 19          Francesca Merlan
Oct 26          Simone Dennis
Nov 2           Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen

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