Quantcast

Don’t scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers; advice for female cyclists

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,132
7,679
Transylvania 90210
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/03/donts-for-women-on-bicycles-1895/

A List of Don’ts for Women on Bicycles Circa 1895
by Maria Popova

We’ve already seen how the bicycle emancipated women, but it wasn’t exactly a smooth ride. The following list of 41 don’ts for female cyclists was published in 1895 in the newspaper New York World by an author of unknown gender. Equal parts amusing and appalling, the list is the best (or worst, depending on you look at it) thing since the Victorian map of woman’s heart.

Don’t be a fright.
Don’t faint on the road.
Don’t wear a man’s cap.
Don’t wear tight garters.
Don’t forget your toolbag
Don’t attempt a “century.”
Don’t coast. It is dangerous.
...