Cultural history class this week includes the bicycle boom of the 1890s.
Newspapers from this period are filled with the complaints of men who say bicycles ruined their marriages, since wives only care to ride and no longer tend to their "duties."
The Rev. Thomas Gregory saw the bike as a threat to his parishioners' intellect and health.
"It annihilates the reading habit. The libraries are deserted. It is a menace to domestic virtues. It breaks up and destroys the home."
@xankarn@histodons Susan B Anthony, speaking on bicycles: “I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammelled womanhood.”
This may be the real reason behind the opposition.
@xankarn@adamrice@histodons So the big bike boom happened around 1895-1905 and by about 20 years later, universal suffrage (including workers and women) was irresistible. Surely no connection!