WOMEN'S MOTORCYCLING HISTORY
Something that has bothered me for many years is the fact that people are quick to say that women didn't really ride motorcycles until 'modern' bikes became popular, because it was frowned upon, because the bikes were kick start, because they were hard to ride, because men didn't want them to, because, because, because.
Yet, we know about a few women from the earliest days who rode. Clara Wagner, Effie Hotchkiss, the Van Buren sisters. Then there are the photos. Photos of women riders. Not just one woman here or there. But women. Plural. On motorcycles.
So, what's real? What is the truth? How can we see evidence that women did indeed ride, and still believe that they did not? Can we dispatch with the myth and get to the actual history? And when we do, what will we find?
What I have found thus far is that not only were there a good number of women who rode in the early days of motorcycling, but the motorcycle industry and culture was, in many ways, more welcoming of women as riders and as a market segment than the current industry is.
This is what I will be digging into in grad school. The writing sample I had to submit with my application was a general history of women in motorcycling, so I had already begun to dig. I am hoping that this section of our site will contain segments of my research that will be of the most interest to all of you.
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