Marketing Scoops: wheels

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For a lot of us, learning to ride a bicycle is one of our earliest memories of personal autonomy. As a young girl on a bike, I was as free as a spinning top as I wobbled uncontrollably down the street, suddenly and completely in charge of my own direction my own destiny. From that very first ride, I realized that this was a place where I had control. It was only my feet on the coaster brakes, my hands on the handlebar………Continue reading…..

By Riley Missel

Source: Bicycling

Critics:

The bicycle had a significant impact on the lives of women in a variety of areas. The greatest impact the bicycle had on the societal role of women occurred in the 1890s during the bicycle craze that swept American and European society. During this time, the primary achievement the bicycle gained for the women’s movement was that it gave women a greater amount of social mobility. The feminist Annie Londonderry accomplished her around-the-globe bicycle trip as the first woman in this time.

Due to the price and the various payment plans offered by American bicycle companies, the bicycle was affordable to the majority of people. However, the bicycle impacted upper and middle class white women the most. This transformed their role in society from remaining in the private or domestic sphere as caregivers, wives, and mothers to one of greater public appearance and involvement in the community.

During the late nineteenth century, doctors began encouraging everyone in public to exercise more often and cycling became a popular activity in which to do so. However, doctors were worried about the effects of excessive cycling, particularly how it affected women. An 1895 article in The Literary Digest reviewed literature from the time period, which discussed the bicycle face, and noted that The Springfield Republican warned against excessive cycling by “women, girls, and middle-aged men.”

The bicycle face was described as a face usually flushed, but sometimes pale, often with lips more or less drawn, and the beginning of dark shadows under the eyes, and always an expression of weariness. These articles pushed forth the belief that excessive cycling made women vulnerable to many diseases such as developing an exophthalmic goiter, appendicitis, and internal inflammation. His article was subsequently discussed and analyzed in The Advertiser.

Another concern doctors had about women riding the bicycle was over their sexual health. Doctors believed that the bicycle saddle taught masturbation to women and girls. Riding astride anything was seen as too masculine for any proper woman. These doctors were not concerned with sexual health, but rather sexual morality. Young women were supposed to be chaste and pure. They were trained from a young age to guard their sexual innocence.

The fact that the bicycle had potential to awaken sexual feelings in women not only threatened their sexual purity, but also threatened to destroy gender definitions of sexual morality. Therefore, the bicycle is seen again as blurring the definition of masculine and feminine characteristics. At the same time as male doctors were stating the capabilities of women and the weakness of their bodies in relation to the bicycle, bicycle enthusiasts disagreed with this medical assessment, and asserted that the physical activity was good to improve one’s health and vitality.

Women began to express what their bodies were capable of through magazine articles. Women like Mary Bisland, Mary Sargent Hopkins, and Emma Moffett Tyng contested medical commonplaces and promoted new ones in their place. These women stated that cycling brought long-inactive muscles back to life, and helped riders feel better emotionally and encouraged women to use their own experiences with the bicycle to determine their physical limits.

These women brought to public attention the positive aspects that help women riders. The bicycle not only makes them literally stronger, but also makes them more confident in their own abilities. This in turn not only gives women a greater agency over their body, but also mentally strengthens them to take on their previous domestic role and explore new roles in the public sphere.