April 26, 2008
Bicycles
At risk of this sounding like a toilet post, why are guys and gals bikes made differently? What social construction caused this? Clearly it has to be social as if were a biological reason, then the styles should be reversed in my opinion. I tried to find some history on this topic, but have had no luck in finding any reason for guy bikes to have a higher bar. Not to mention is there structural reason for this - I mean is one style more safer? If so, shouldn't all bikes be made similarly?
6 comments:
I think this transformation is due to the fact that bikes have changed over the years. The first appearance of women’s bikes looking differently was back in the 1890s when they introduced the “Ladies safety” bicycle. I believe the first reason they designed this bicycle is because back then a woman would probably be wearing a big skirt while riding her bike.
I did some research and I found that “Modern women's bikes have a different geometry than Men's bikes. The women bikes have a shorter top tube and narrow handlebars. Also a women's bike is designed to be more compact to fit a women's body geometry.” And “They have also shortened the stem to reduce distance from seat to handlebars, because Stephan says women have longer femurs.
Instead of a gendered issue, I think it’s more of an issue of science and body type. Also, I do think this does say a lot about men and women’s gendered physical activity. It’s ok for little boys to go off on their own, go all the way to the other side of town, get dirty, and play physical games, i.e. sports. While little girls can ride their bikes, but rarely go off on their own. Also girls may participate in sports, but I think for boys physical activity is more expected and enforced by parents.
Way back when (before the Model T) bicycles were a major mode of transpertation. Also during this time women were expected to wear dresses almost 100% of the time.
High bar while riding a dress may equal unladylike opportunities (looking up a womans skirt). Hence bicycle manufactures lowered the bar on women bicycles and it has remained the same ever since.
take at the link below for a pic
http://www.jgm.nu/image/cyclelog/01suffragists.jpg
Dresses. Just like women rode side saddle when they rode a horse(with a skirt on), they also wore skirts when they rode bikes. Think of the bad witch from the Wizard of Oz, skirt and bike together. You have to admit it would be a lot harder to ride a bike in a skirt with the bar running down the length of the bike.
Some parents even today reinforce the stereotype gendered roles of children as they are growing up, but today there are at least more parents who don't reinforce those stereotypes. I hope as the next generation grows up they will learn less to put their children in the "boxes" of gendered expectations then has been done in the past.
Bikes may have been adjusted for clothing in the old days so that women could ride the bike without having people see up their skirts, but you would think that with a man's anatomy and the location of the bar that both mens and womens bikes would have a lowered bar. If any bike in particular is safer, I would say it has to be the womens bike as the bar is lower and if a man rode the bike would be less likely to crush his testicles if he lost control and fell off.
I agree 100% with AnnonymousCommBlogger380. You would think the bikes would be made the other way around for maximum protection! Ha!
Oh, the modifications made for women to ensure modesty!
HA HA good question. I've often thought the same thing...shouldn't it be reversed. I have no idea the history behind this concept.
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