08 March 2017

Why Else Would We Ride?

Today is International Women's Day.

I won't sully this post, or blog--or, for that matter, the digital world--by recounting what Trumplethinskin (a.k.a. TrumplerasPUTIN) tweeted.  I will only say that his missives are the very epitome of condescension or pure-and-simple insincerity, depending on your point of view.   


Instead, I'll repeat something I've included in previous posts.  It comes from the far-more-esteem-able personage of Susan B. Anthony:


Let me tell you what I think of cycling.  It has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.  It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.

Surely she would have been happy to see these young women helping another learn how to ride:




Also, she would have been happy to see their outfits:  They were free of the whalebone corsets and voluminous dresses and skirts "proper" ladies were expected to wear.  Instead, they were attired in the far more practical "bloomers", patterned after the pants worn by fashionable ladies in Istanbul--and named for their designer, Anthony's fellow suffragist Amelia Bloomer.



Another fitting quote for this day, in my opinion, comes from Queens homegirl Cyndi Lauper:  


Girls Just Want To Have Fun:  Is there a better reason for us to ride bikes?

2 comments:

  1. I do believe that the young women in your first photo are wearing bathing suits from around 1900 or 1905. Things really loosened up with regard to women's clothes after around 1895. The proper lady no longer had to have 20 pounds of petty coats and whatever under a floor length dress. And in only 15-20 years skirts were above the knee and it was the age of the flapper. The distance between 1895 and 1917 was vastly greater culturally then the distance between 1995 and 2017.

    I would hazard a guess that the photo was taken on the beach at Blackpool in NW England, based on the shadowy tower form in the middle of the horizon.

    The date of the second photo is very difficult to estimate. It could be as late as 1935. I am not sure if what they are wearing could be called bloomers.

    Happy Women's Day. Sorry I am late.

    Leo

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  2. Leo--You certainly are right about the differences between 1895 and 1917 vs. 1995 and 2017. You're probably right about the dates and locales of the photos. I just happened to find them on the web without any identifying information.

    You are forgiven for being late! ;-)

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