The Wasp — 1894 — page 347: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon tracks women's evolving relationship with bicycles across four years (1894-1896). The title "Woman's Progress" ironically documents how women's cycling attire and behavior became increasingly daring and scandalous by contemporary standards. The sequence shows: 1894 depicts modest, controlled cycling; 1895 shows a woman in a more revealing split skirt, actively riding; 1896 portrays chaotic scenes with women literally flying off bicycles in disarray, accompanied by startled male onlookers. The satire mocks both the "safety bicycle" craze and anxieties about women's independence. As women adopted cycling for transportation and recreation, conservative observers viewed it as immodest and destabilizing to social order. The cartoon suggests women's "progress" toward freedom was dangerously out of control—depicted through visual chaos and physical disorder.