Revolutions

April 15, 2020
A British writer and cycling enthusiast offers a global history of women cyclists while discussing the connection of cycling to feminist issues worldwide. The concept for the bicycle can be traced back to a German inventor working in the early 1800s, but it wasn't until 1885 that the first true ancestor to the modern bicycle emerged in Britain. In this well-researched, readable book, Ross shows how these "freedom-machine[s]" became intertwined with women's emancipation and the feminist movement. In the first section of the four that comprise the book, the author examines how the rise of cycling coincided with the emergence of the Anglo-American "New Woman," "feminists who...wanted to throw off the restrictive shackles imposed by late-Victorian patriarchy." Women able to afford bicycles embraced them for the freedom of movement they offered. Some, like dress reform advocate Florence Wallace Pomeroy, campaigned for women's cycling bloomers. But such women often found themselves at odds with social conventions that deemed cycling a menace to "femininity, grace and even fertility." In the second section, Ross explores how minority females, along with those living in anti-feminist regimes worldwide, combat underrepresentation by creating cycling groups and teaching each other how to ride. She also shows how women like the "pre-Hollywood" Audrey Hepburn used bicycles during World War II to circulate "anti-Nazi propaganda." The third section, about female cycling adventurers, features stories about intrepid individuals such as Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Dervla Murphy, who used their bicycles to travel Europe and the world. In the final section, Ross celebrates the largely unsung bicycling champions--e.g., Olympian Emma Pooley--who have fought, and continue to fight, sexism and lack of financial support for competitive female cyclists. Comprehensive and inclusive, the narrative shines the spotlight on a neglected history while making an impassioned plea for gender equality in cycling. An informative and enlightening blend of sports history and women's history.

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