Independence
"Bicycle Face"
The imaginary ailment plaguing wheelwomen
Women were trained to solely care about the shallowest of their attributes because this is what was sold to them. Whenever the bicycle came along and gave women a small privilege to exercise the right of transportation, solutions to this “chaos” quickly filled society. “Bicycle face” was an imaginary ailment made up to deter women from riding bicycles. "Over-exertion, the upright position on the wheel, and the unconscious effort to maintain one's balance tend to produce a wearied and exhausted 'bicycle face,'" noted the Literary Digest in 1895.”[1] They hit with what they thought would hurt the most, they threatened a woman’s vanity. It was not long after this “epidemic” was accused of spreading that people soon realized, women did not care. This only encouraged authorities to install rules for women’s cycling like, “Don’t refuse assistance up a hill” and “Don’t emulate your brother’s attitude if he rides parallel toward the ground.”[2]
A doctor from Chicago in 1897, Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, had to speak out to remind people that cycling is good exercise. She needed to assure people that this ugly face of concentration is only seen on beginners and as soon as she, “acquires perfect confidence in her ability to balance herself and in her power of locomotion, this look passes away."[3]
[1] 1. Joseph Stromberg, “‘Bicycle Face’: A 19th-Century Health Problem Made up to Scare Women Away from Biking,” Vox, July 8, 2014, https://www.vox.com/2014/7/8/5880931/the-19th-century-health-scare-that-told-women-to-worry-about-bicycle.
[2] 2. Joseph Stromberg, “‘Bicycle Face’: A 19th-Century Health Problem Made up to Scare Women Away from Biking,” Vox, July 8, 2014, https://www.vox.com/2014/7/8/5880931/the-19th-century-health-scare-that-told-women-to-worry-about-bicycle.
[3] 3. Joseph Stromberg, “‘Bicycle Face’: A 19th-Century Health Problem Made up to Scare Women Away from Biking,” Vox, July 8, 2014, https://www.vox.com/2014/7/8/5880931/the-19th-century-health-scare-that-told-women-to-worry-about-bicycle.
The "New Woman"
The bicycle was a symbol of the “New Woman.” This was the term coined for a young, educated, career focused woman who was active in her community. This was a woman who wanted a marriage where she was valued as an equal partner. This woman rode a bicycle.
This taste of freedom incentivized women to expand their rights in more ways than one, leading to the suffrage movement.
“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”[1] -Susan B. Anthony
[1] 4. “Pedaling the Path to Freedom,” National Women’s History Museum, June 27, 2017, https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/pedaling-path-freedom.
World Bicycle Relief. “How Women Cycled Their Way to Freedom.” World Bicycle Relief, November 24, 2023. https://worldbicyclerelief.org/how-women-cycled-their-way-to-freedom/.
“As Munsey’s Magazine put it 1896: “To men, the bicycle in the beginning was merely a new toy, another machine added to the long list of devices they knew in their work and play. To women, it was a steed upon which they rode into a new world.”[1]
[1] 5. Joseph Stromberg, “‘Bicycle Face’: A 19th-Century Health Problem Made up to Scare Women Away from Biking,” Vox, July 8, 2014, https://www.vox.com/2014/7/8/5880931/the-19th-century-health-scare-that-told-women-to-worry-about-bicycle.