Remember those old Virgina Slims advertisements that showed 19th Century women toiling away at household chores while their 20th Century counterparts went about lives of liberation and fulfillment? According to an article from Mental Floss Magazine that a friend recently sent, the bicycle has had a lot to do with helping women come so far in the past 100+ years.
The article’s impetus was a celebration of the formation of the women’s suffrage movement 139 years ago this month by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It explores the lifestyle of and restrictions placed upon the 19th Century woman by the social mores of the time, including the surprising revelation that restricting undergarments to less than seven pounds (7 pounds!) was actually a liberation of sorts.
But what was perhaps even more liberating was the growing popularity of the bicycle.
Despite enormous societal pressure against women riding bicycles, let alone exerting themselves, women saddled up and became mobile. This necessitated the wearing of bloomers which, according to the article, might have been a sort of “gateway garment,” thereby emboldening the wearers to “participate in such dastardly pursuits as business or reading.” There even arose a new enterprise that provided chaperones for women cyclists in order to ensure that they did not engage in any additional unladylike behaviors.
Nevertheless, cycling persevered and so did women cyclists. Along the way, women got the vote, got out of the house, became CEOs, entrepreneurs, soldiers, and even, dare I say, professional cyclists.
The article in Mental Floss quotes Susan B. Anthony as having said, “I think [bicycling] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.” I like to think that’s true. Just ask women like Kristin Armstrong, Jackie Phelan, and you!
You’ve come a long way, baby!
Note: While the bicycle may have helped emancipate women, many believe that the Virginia Slims ad campaign was responsible for a rapid increase in smoking among teenage girls. The FredCast does not endorse or condone smoking. If you want to inhale something, strap on a helmet and go for a ride!
