Bicycling and feminism

[3] 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.

[3][9] In the 21st century bicycling remains a contentious issue addressed by feminists in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran.

[11] Orthodox scholars claimed that cycling would harm reproductive organs, embolden sexual permissiveness and lead to the destruction of the family.

[11] Raab reports that many Muslim religious authorities castigated women's cycling as bid’ah (any technical innovation deemed heretical).

[11] He points out that women's cycling was criticized in the media and by law, and in some places, female cyclists faced physical assaults.

He reports that despite opposition, in the early 20th century, women in the Ottoman Empire nevertheless went on to adopt cycling for varied purposes with a new sense of freedom.

[12] Feminist activists' efforts to expand the political rights of women, like those of Fatma Aliye Topuz, were helped along by the bicycle.

This consisted of full trousers, gathered at the ankle, worn with a calf-length skirt with a fashionable jacket on top.

In particular, they saw these bicycle costumes as a physical representation of women stealing men's characteristics, thereby blurring the lines between femininity and masculinity and what is socially acceptable for each group.

What this fear reveals is a realistic notion that women were taking on a greater role of independence of which had previously been characterized as masculine.

[3][10] To address modesty concerns, a proposed Iranian version of a women's bicycle would have a "boxy contraption that hides a woman's lower body".

[16] 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.

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.

[18] 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.

These physicians wrote in detail in medical journals about how the bicycle could be used for masturbation: The saddle can be tilted in every bicycle as desired… In this way a girl… could, by carrying the front peak or pommel high, or by relaxing the stretched leather in order to let it form a deep, hammock-like concavity which would fit itself snugly over the entire vulva and reach up in front, bring about constant friction over the clitoris and labia.

For example, a girl whose hymen was damaged as a result of sports activities like cycling or horse riding had to face negative consequences in her family life and social stature.

Women Cycle the World is one of the many websites, which offer a list solo female long-distance cyclists and their blog.

[31][32][33] Around the world cycling record breaking Jenny Graham was even advised to carry a firearm in Yukon due to the 'bear season'.

According to Jennifer Bonham and Kat Jungnicke lot of the gender and cycling literature studies reasons behind uneven uptake among diverse populations.

[12] Being influenced by sexualized patriarchal culture, various levels of seclusion of women from public participation are practiced in Pakistan.

Frances Elizabeth Willard, the national president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) wrote a book called A Wheel Within A Wheel, in which she discusses the exhilaration and health benefits she received by learning to ride as well as how she used cycling as a compelling social activity to stop men and women from drinking.

[1] Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that the bicycle was a tool which motivated women to gain strength and take on increased roles in society.

"[37] Beatrice Grimshaw, who went on to a life of travel and adventure, describes a girlhood of Victorian propriety, in which she was: "the Revolting Daughter–as they called them then.