The Rational Dress Society and why Bike Chic still makes me mad

from the article I posted previously, this portion is most interesting......

"Bloomers provoked wrath in conservatives and delight in women cyclists, and the garment was to become the centerpiece of the "rational dress" movement that sprung up at the end of the 19th century. The rational dress society statement of purpose reads in part: The Rational Dress society protests against the introduction of any fashion in dress that either deforms the figure, impedes the movement of the body, or in any way tends to injure the health. It protests against the wearing of tightly fitted corsets, of high-heeled or narrow toed boots and shoes; of heavily weighted skirts, as rendering healthy exercise almost impossible.... (Dodge, 126) The bloomer quickly made a host of enemies, however, and many a bloomer clad women complained of being ridiculed, fined, and even treated "like a prostitute" by local authorities.(Willard, 94)."

got a comment via email from a reader....

"that other article was very interesting, i love the idea of the rational dress society for women,

when you think about it, much of our clothing is for the benefit of men- high heels, tight clothes, low cut shirts etc., to me no different than the burka for Muslem women- all for men ( men control religion), not for women"

My point exactly and I do think Bike Chic is a very good example of this comment above.

I really do not think any woman in her right mind would put on heels to ride a bike unless to attract the attention of men.

As much as we enlightened ladies like to think we are enlightened, I am not so sure we are. We buy clothes not for comfort but to look good for men.

For us old ladies who fought the hard fight to finally not have to wear skirts and dresses to school, who never even owned a pair of jeans until in our 20s (there were no jeans for women prior to the hippie movement), biking in a dress just takes us back 50 years to the time when we had to wear skirts all the time.

I know many say, liberation is picking whatever you want to wear, but truly, would you pick those short skirts, tight shoes and low cut tops if you were going out biking with just women.

I doubt it. Who designs all those ridiculous high heels.. Jimmy Choo (sounds like a man's name to me)??

If you want to bike to work, fine, but put on appropriate clothes, pants, sneakers and a sweater for example. You only let men control your clothing choices when you bike in short skirts and tight tops. I see no choice in your biking clothing selection, only a lady trying hard to wear what men want us to wear.