A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.
Gloria Steinem popularized that expression in the early days of the modern feminist movement. Many people believe she coined it, though she has never taken credit for doing so.
Whatever its origins, sometimes it seems that every woman in the world has uttered it--whether out loud or to herself--at some time or another. I am no exception. In fact, I muttered it more than a few times--without irony or sarcasm--when I was living as a man.
Of course, people have substituted all sorts of things for "A woman" and "a man". After I read Nietzsche, I inserted "People" and "God". Later, I would modify the latter to "religion".
In this depressing election cycle, we could say "This country needs Hillary/Trump" (take your pick).
All right, I'll stop preaching politics. After all, you didn't come to this blog for that, did you?
Instead, I'll come back to the fish-and-bicycle dilemma. Perhaps a fish doesn't need a bicycle. But does that mean a fish can't be a bicycle?
Maybe not. But a pike or pickerel can be made from bike bits. At least, French sculptor Edouard Martinet pulled off that feat:
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He has also made birds and insects from bike parts and other objects he's found.
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Think about them the next time you toss out that worn chain: A bird or a bug or a fish might actually need your bike--your bike parts, anyway!
