BIXI is Montréal's beloved bike sharing system, and I'd like to ask your help, dear readers, in getting their attention.
You see, a few years ago, they added a feature - after you borrow a bike and return it, you can see how many kilometres you traveled, and an estimate of how many calories you burned. I love seeing how many kilometres I biked. I like knowing the distance between spots, and feeling strong that I'm capable of biking so far! But I hate seeing a calorie count. In fact, I hate just seeing the word "calorie". It reminds my brain of all the diet-culture things I've been taught all my life - riding a bike is exercise and exercise is only for burning calories and calories matter for being skinny. This is all pretty toxic messaging that is very hard to avoid subconsciously picking up, and whether you personally agree with the messages or not, I think at the very least, organizations for public good (like BIXI, a non-profit) should avoid subjecting people who struggle with diet-culture to them.
That's why I'm asking BIXI to add a setting: "Show/hide calories". Ideally they don't show calories at all unless you toggle it on; but at the least, let me toggle it off, pretty please! Seeing a calorie count is an even worse trigger for people who struggle with eating disorders, especially when they are trying to recover. We, as a society, should protect our vulnerable, and that includes not shoving triggers in their faces at every turn.
If you agree, please retweet my tweet at them, or email them at info@bixi.com with a quick note that you find the calorie count off-putting or inconsiderate of vulnerable groups.
Thanks so much for reading. This has been a long time coming for me, but I've been too scared to actually do it. Now the time has finally come to be heard and keep our organizations accountable to the people they serve. ❤️