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The Dangerous Medical Condition Caused By Bicycles That Used To Afflict Women
Some doctors used to claim women could suffer serious ailments if they rode bikes
Given what we know about history, it should hardly come as a surprise when different measures from the past to control and otherwise inhibit women come to light. The desire to keep females docile and generally bound to home was so pervasive that even the most basic activities were policed. This included riding bikes, as in the 19th century women were discouraged from participating in this refreshing physical activity due to the horrors of it possibly leading to “bicycle face.”
First developed in Europe in the early 19th century, bicycles evolved over time and versions that began resembling what are ridden today started becoming popular in the late 1800s. As with other “dangerous” and “controversial” things like pants and voting, male patriarchal society decided women needed to be protected from the inherent dangers of pedaling.
In the latter half of the 19th century, physicians started warning women that riding bikes could have a dangerous impact on their appearance; namely a condition they called “bicycle face.” Published in 1895, The Literary Digest described the worrisome medical affliction:
“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.”
Furthermore, patients who fell into the dizzying grip of “bicycle face” could expect some or all of the following symptoms:
“[U]sually flushed, but sometimes pale, often with lips more or less drawn, and the beginning of dark shadows under the eyes, and always with an expression of weariness.”
Another writer also attributed bulging eyes and a clenched jaw to those women who had too vigorously ridden bikes. The science at the time was clear, a lady enjoying some outdoor exercise on a bicycle could unfortunately expect to become a grotesque monster.
Dr. A Shadwell, a British physician wrote in The National Review in 1897 that he was personally aware of women bikers who as a direct result had developed such conditions as nervousness…
