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Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stump Mom never told you?

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Speaker 1: From house top works dot Com. Hello and welcome to

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Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Molly Molly. When I

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Speaker 1: read the following quote from Susan B. Anthony, early feminist suffrage,

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Speaker 1: pro pro woman lady, sorry to call myself from now,

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Speaker 1: I'm pro woman lady. I'm a pro woman lady. Uh,

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Speaker 1: it made me look at the bicycle that I so

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Speaker 1: badly need to pump the tires up in Maybe look

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Speaker 1: at my bicycle with whole new eyes. Well, I pute

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Speaker 1: from Susan be Anthony Anthony, she said, a woman on

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Speaker 1: a bicycle is quote the picture of free and untrammeled womanhood. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I just I had no idea that when

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Speaker 1: you're rounding your bike you're representing womanhood. I mean literally emancipation,

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Speaker 1: literally emancipation in motion, peddling, peddling toward gender parody on

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Speaker 1: two wheels, not three too. I know you better pump

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Speaker 1: those tires because you've got to get out there and

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Speaker 1: represent I do gonna carry little picket sign women vote

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Speaker 1: for women uh, yeah, yeah, I think bicycling has done

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Speaker 1: more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.

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Speaker 1: In the world, anything else in the world a bicycle.

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Speaker 1: Can you believe that, Well, I couldn't until I did

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Speaker 1: the research for this episode, and it's it's pretty impressive

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Speaker 1: that bicycles did so much for the ladies. Well, because

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Speaker 1: women had to fight their way onto the bike. Because

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Speaker 1: first of all, before the bike, we had horses that

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Speaker 1: women could get around on, which we've talked about, and

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Speaker 1: some people foul that wasn't very ladylike to have a

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Speaker 1: woman straddling a horse, right, because by straddling a horse,

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Speaker 1: that would perhaps agitate her her sexual her lady parts,

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Speaker 1: her lady parts, and she would lady part impure thought. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: hence she would have to wear I have to ride

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Speaker 1: side saddle, right, So straddling a bike that was also

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Speaker 1: other question. Even even little girls back in Victorian era

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Speaker 1: were discouraged from even straddling a hobby horse because it

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Speaker 1: might kind of start getting them thinking impure thoughts at

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Speaker 1: a young age. So I guess could be a hobby

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Speaker 1: horse side saddle. No, it would not be any fun,

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Speaker 1: It would not be fun at all. But do not

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Speaker 1: underestimate these headstrong Victorian women. Yeah, and and women love

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Speaker 1: a good fad, and there was no bigger fad. There's

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Speaker 1: no bigger fad in and bicycles. People had bicycle fever. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was. It was. You know, bicycles were everywhere in

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Speaker 1: the US because your other option was a horse. The

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Speaker 1: cent and smell is bad, have to feed its pop.

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Speaker 1: So people were like, oh, we're gonna get behind these bicycles.

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Speaker 1: But you know, the early designs of bicycles, we're pretty

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Speaker 1: pretty hard to handle. Like there was one bike that

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Speaker 1: had like a really big front wheel and a really

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Speaker 1: small back wheel. Those in particular really only women in

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Speaker 1: like circus side shows, road so that didn't help the

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Speaker 1: cause of of letting your woman out of the house

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Speaker 1: to ride a bike. But when bicycles got really popular,

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Speaker 1: it was thanks to a new design of a bike

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Speaker 1: that would pretty close to the bikes we have today,

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Speaker 1: with wheels of two equal sizes. Yes, they were referred

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Speaker 1: to as safety bikes, and people were saying, hey, but

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Speaker 1: you know, it's so easy for the men. I think

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Speaker 1: I think a lady could ride that bike. A lady

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Speaker 1: could ride that bike, but maybe not so easily when

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Speaker 1: she is wearing at least seven pounds of undergarments. And

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Speaker 1: we talked about this in the podcast about bikinis and swimming,

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Speaker 1: about how it used to be be really dangerous for women

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Speaker 1: to go out waiting because they would be they would

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Speaker 1: be weighted down by pounds and pounds and pounds of

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Speaker 1: clothes and actual weights on the hems of their dresses

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Speaker 1: to make sure they didn't balloon out and reveal an

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Speaker 1: a and ankle. Ankles were very scandalous and so that's

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Speaker 1: that was one of the main ways that they kept

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Speaker 1: women from getting on these bikes was saying, hey, you've

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Speaker 1: got too many clothes on for this. Yes, thanks to

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Speaker 1: a letter published by the Rational Dress Society, which I

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Speaker 1: think I might start a new chapter of it would

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Speaker 1: be fun. Yes, they said that the maximum weight of

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Speaker 1: underclothing without shoes should not exceed seven pounds. The Rational

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Speaker 1: Dress Society was like, come on, people, just seven pounds.

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Speaker 1: It's seven pounds. I mean, I don't think all the

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Speaker 1: clothes I'm wearing now weigh seven pounds. And that was

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Speaker 1: just their undergarments, right, and beyond that, they had to,

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Speaker 1: uh make it acceptable for women to wear bloomers they're

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Speaker 1: kind of like oversized cool lots, and people thought it

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Speaker 1: would be a gateway garment to like the scandals things

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Speaker 1: that prostitutes were wearing. I mean, how can we let

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Speaker 1: women where are these things that still cover all available skin?

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Speaker 1: Because as soon as they put those on, I mean,

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Speaker 1: who knows what will happen. I mean you could say

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Speaker 1: that it was a gateway garment towards men's were becoming

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Speaker 1: more fashionable for women because with the Bloomers we have

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Speaker 1: the evolution of women and trousers and things like that.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, it took a wardrobe revolution for women to

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Speaker 1: be able to get on those bicycles and pedal toward.

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Speaker 1: And then's the patient. So the bicycles just look so fun.

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Speaker 1: They're like, you know what, I don't care if I've

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Speaker 1: got seven pounds of underwear on and that that's the

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Speaker 1: lightest thing I've ever worn in my life. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to get on the spike and bike makers accommodated them,

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of changing the design with that lower

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Speaker 1: bar that we still have today so that it'd be

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Speaker 1: easier for all those starts to get on. And women

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Speaker 1: were like, who, this is fun and I'm still wearing

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Speaker 1: all these clothes, so let's let's let's let's go with

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Speaker 1: this this you know, hang up, we all have about this.

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Speaker 1: Not so fast women, not so fast. It was not

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Speaker 1: often games in the early days of bicycles, I mean,

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Speaker 1: and who knew that bicycles had such a storied history.

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Speaker 1: Check this out. Emma Eats, one of the first women

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Speaker 1: to ride a bike in London, was attacked with bricks

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Speaker 1: and stones because people were so outraged at the idea

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Speaker 1: of this woman being on being on two wheels peddling

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Speaker 1: in a public space that you her to go home

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Speaker 1: or she belonged and put on more clothes, put on

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Speaker 1: more pounds of underwear. But gradually people started to accept

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Speaker 1: the fact that okay, maybe this is not the end

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Speaker 1: of morality as we know it. We remember happy about

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Speaker 1: it because God remember those impure thoughts if you're lying

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Speaker 1: on a bicycle seat just the right way. Well because

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Speaker 1: of that, perhaps organizations such as the Cyclist Chaperone Association

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Speaker 1: popped up that would allow gentlewomen of with social position

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Speaker 1: to conduct ladies on bicycle excursions and tours. But not

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Speaker 1: just anyone could get into the Cycle Shepherd Association. You

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Speaker 1: needed to be over thirty or a widow, well a

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Speaker 1: widow or unmarried over thirty. And then you also needed

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Speaker 1: three personal references to from ladies of unquestionable social position

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Speaker 1: and another get this from a clergyman. I know, if

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Speaker 1: you're going to restart the Rational Address Society, I might

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Speaker 1: restart the Chaperone Society Shopernes Association because uh, I kind

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Speaker 1: of like rules, so be fun to enforce all these rules,

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Speaker 1: and I make up new ones about the new criteria

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Speaker 1: to qualify. But yeah, mainly everyone can ride a bike.

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Speaker 1: Now we needed well, they were so scared that these

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Speaker 1: ladies rain bikes would accidentally meet like young gentlemen, yeah

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Speaker 1: end with the straddling. I mean, god knows what would happen.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, they needed these elderly ladies to kind of

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Speaker 1: watch over the young bicycling women in their crazy gateway garments.

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Speaker 1: Um but anyway, like we, bicycling was a huge craze

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Speaker 1: and eventually more and more women riding, even with or

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Speaker 1: without the chaperones. People said, hey, the world's not going

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Speaker 1: to pieces, So I guess it's okay that women are bicycling,

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Speaker 1: And it seems that they've been able to leave the

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Speaker 1: house wearing fewer clothes and the world hasn't exploded yet.

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Speaker 1: So in that way, yes, bicycling was this, this way

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Speaker 1: to get women out of their homes, the Victorian homes,

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Speaker 1: wearing a little little less clothing, and proving to these

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Speaker 1: men with these outdated ideas of Victorian womanhood that hey,

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Speaker 1: the ladies can handle the bicycles. Yeah, they can get

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Speaker 1: out of the house on there and keep them. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Even in uh in Saudi Arabia, where women aren't allowed

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Speaker 1: to drive cars, it's a big deal that they can

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Speaker 1: get on their bikes though, and get out of the

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Speaker 1: house and get down the road. Can I just tell

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Speaker 1: you Christ and we're talking about this yesterday, the scariest

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Speaker 1: woman you ever saw on a bike the Wicked Witch

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Speaker 1: of the West before she becomes the Wicked Witch of

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Speaker 1: the West. Oh yeah. Molly sent me a photo of

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Speaker 1: a movie still from Wizard of Oz in the beginning

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Speaker 1: when the witch is just you know, the lady on

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Speaker 1: the bike. And I don't know what it was, but

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Speaker 1: that old lady on that bike really really got to music.

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Speaker 1: She a green witch I could handle, but a merement

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Speaker 1: on a bike stay away. She had so much power.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that's what we didn't realize at the time was

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Speaker 1: that bicycle was a sign of power, and that's why

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Speaker 1: she was so scary. Uh So, moving forward though, now

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Speaker 1: now it's okay that a lot of people are biking.

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Speaker 1: Uh it's not such a big deal that women are

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Speaker 1: on bikes. But even though today it's totally fine, at

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Speaker 1: least in the States. You know, if you and I

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Speaker 1: want to hop on our bike, but we're not going

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Speaker 1: to do it, at least not as much as guys do. Statistically, Now,

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Speaker 1: let me throw a statistic at you. Men in the

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Speaker 1: US make three times as many trips by bicycle than women,

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Speaker 1: according to research by John Putcher, a professor of urban

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Speaker 1: planning at Rutgers. So, especially in a big city where

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Speaker 1: you know your options are maybe like subway, walking bike,

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Speaker 1: they're saying the men are the ones picking the bike

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Speaker 1: and women are the ones taking another method. Despite the

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Speaker 1: fact that biking is good for the environment, it's good

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Speaker 1: for your body. Um, and even the women who liked

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Speaker 1: a bike aren't taking a bike to work, for example,

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Speaker 1: They're saying, you know, on bike trails in Central Park

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Speaker 1: and big parks, you'll see plenty of women on bikes. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: just for exercise. Though, but they won't use it as

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Speaker 1: a way to get around unless we hop over to Europe,

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Speaker 1: go to someplace like Copenhagen, basically the biking capital of

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Speaker 1: the entire globe, and you have women in skirts and

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Speaker 1: heels biking along looking pretty as a picture. Ain't no thing,

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Speaker 1: And they're saying that this is one of the hang

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Speaker 1: ups that women in the US might have compared to

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Speaker 1: those European women. Is somehow women in Europe have gotten

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Speaker 1: this message that it's okay too where their skirts and

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Speaker 1: high heels and bike and still get there safely. And

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Speaker 1: in the US, you know, I think there's such a

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Speaker 1: market that's grown up around biking and all the accessories

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Speaker 1: you need that women seem to think that they have

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Speaker 1: to wear, you know, the spandex shorts and have all

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Speaker 1: this equipment when people are saying, hey, just get on

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Speaker 1: your bike and ride well, and we're like, you don't

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Speaker 1: buck run. We're we're also not supposed to be sweaty

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Speaker 1: with helmet hair either, you know. I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: it's just like different cultural factors and our cities are

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Speaker 1: far less bike friendly, you know. I mean, it's just

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Speaker 1: like we're still we're still having to catch up. But

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Speaker 1: then in terms of professional biking, you know, we got

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Speaker 1: people like Lance Armstrong, but we're the ladies and there

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Speaker 1: are equivalents. There are plenty of female cyclists who can

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Speaker 1: ride as fast as lightning strikes. Yeah, but you know,

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Speaker 1: whereas a man who is a professional cyclist, you know,

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Speaker 1: he makes probably a minimum of like forty five dollars

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Speaker 1: quarant to the New York Times, the minimum for a

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Speaker 1: professional female cyclist is going to be just like the

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Speaker 1: jersey on her back and the bike under her. You know,

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Speaker 1: the are getting paid so much, I mean, the sister

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Speaker 1: of all women's sports, but the men are making so

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Speaker 1: much more. They have so much more sponsorship support that

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Speaker 1: they're saying that, you know, for a young girl who

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Speaker 1: wants to take this love of bicycling even further, the

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Speaker 1: operations are pretty limited, despite the fact that you know

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Speaker 1: the US around the world, they are really great cycling

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Speaker 1: teams who just aren't the events for them, and there

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Speaker 1: aren't there. There's not the money there. So it's kind

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Speaker 1: of interesting that, especially that urban perspective. Christ and I

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Speaker 1: thought that was really interesting that, you know, as cities

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Speaker 1: want to encourage biking more because it is some much

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Speaker 1: better for the environment and for for exercise purposes. It's

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Speaker 1: enjoyable that cities really do need to take into account

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Speaker 1: female needs when designing these bike paths. Um that, you know,

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Speaker 1: if you really do, if a city planner really wants

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Speaker 1: to get more people out of their cars, he's got

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Speaker 1: to consider what will make a woman feel safe enough

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Speaker 1: to ride her bike in downtown you know, Manhattan, downtown Seattle,

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Speaker 1: downtown Atlanta. Right there. There's even one h article from

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Speaker 1: the Aren't Times. They were just interviewing people from this

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Speaker 1: one kind of bike education course and they have different

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Speaker 1: levels of course is ABC uh with A being the

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Speaker 1: easiest and see being the hardest, teaching people how to

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Speaker 1: bike around Manhattan, which I cannot even imagine how you

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Speaker 1: would do that, But just anecdotally, so many more women

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Speaker 1: will automatically sign up for the easiest course, whereas men

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Speaker 1: uh far outnumber women in the hardest course. And I

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily know what that means. I'm not saying, you

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Speaker 1: know what I think it means. What I think it

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Speaker 1: means that we've forgotten that this is our freedom machine

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Speaker 1: towards emancipation. We forgot Susan B. Anthony. I think we have.

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Speaker 1: I think that, you know, you see so many aggressive

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Speaker 1: male cyclists on street on city streets, that you think

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Speaker 1: I can't keep up with that. But the fact the matter,

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Speaker 1: as we could. I think, you know, yes, we might

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Speaker 1: be more averse to risk, but if once we learn

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Speaker 1: how to manage that risk, which is what those groups

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Speaker 1: that you're talking about teach you how to do, then

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Speaker 1: we need to just keep peddling towards gender equality. And

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Speaker 1: I would say that when I'm out and about just

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Speaker 1: in the neighborhoods, even in Atlanta, that is not you know,

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Speaker 1: the bikiest city in the world. Uh, I see, I

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Speaker 1: see fairly equal numbers of guys and girls out on bikes.

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Speaker 1: You know, women, there are plenty of women who are

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Speaker 1: speeding past me as I'm sitting in backed up at

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Speaker 1: a traffic light, my hatchback. So yeah, I think that,

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Speaker 1: you know, all it takes is that confidence to get

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Speaker 1: out there and mix it up with the guys. But

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Speaker 1: maybe we have been living in Lance Armstrong world for

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Speaker 1: too long and we think of biking as a really

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Speaker 1: male occupation. But Molly, let's uh, let's get at serious

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Speaker 1: for a second. Okay, Sometimes if you bike for a

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Speaker 1: long time. Even just like if you take a spin class,

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Speaker 1: the seat is not necessarily kind to your seat, if

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. That's a nice way to

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Speaker 1: put it, Christen, Because yes, there are specific just physical

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Speaker 1: elements we need to talk about if you are a

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Speaker 1: lady cyclist, because it can hurt your vagina. It can't,

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Speaker 1: no other way to put it. Yeah, it can hurt.

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Speaker 1: It can hurt your vagina. There's there's a friction. Uh,

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Speaker 1: some women have written in and we're not kidding around folks. Uh,

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Speaker 1: there's issues with saddle soored, nous cratchitis, yeast infections from

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Speaker 1: moisture getting trapped in their numb genitals, numb genitals. Oh man,

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Speaker 1: what are we supposed to do? Pliss goes on on.

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Speaker 1: But luckily people have figured out some ways to cure

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Speaker 1: these women only issues because we caught it. We can't, well,

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Speaker 1: Anthony down, it's not women only because some of them

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Speaker 1: are Yeah, I mean clearly guys probably aren't having yeast

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Speaker 1: infection problems really into cycling. But now there are solutions.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with saddle source and just general like pressure

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Speaker 1: on the bike. What you need is some good lubricant. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I don't think that just lubricant has to be limited

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Speaker 1: to Christmas Black Fammy, it doesn't happy limited to the bedroom.

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Speaker 1: Lubrica can help you when you are bicycling. This is

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Speaker 1: perhaps one of the most surprising bits of advice I

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Speaker 1: have ever learned in researching for stuff. I never told

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Speaker 1: you the recommendation yes for lady cycling lady cyclist to

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Speaker 1: loop up before they peddle away for an emancipation, especially

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Speaker 1: on the on the upper inner thighs where you're rubbing

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Speaker 1: together a lot cycling shorts, invest in them and don't

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Speaker 1: wear underwear under them. Go commando. Yeah, because all that

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Speaker 1: friction is gonna hurt. Hurt down there. Um, and good

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Speaker 1: hygiene after you take a ride, take off the cyclic,

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Speaker 1: take a good shower, rebel loup off, put on some

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Speaker 1: cotton breathable underwear and uh. We should also point out

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Speaker 1: that it's you know, our our vaginas are not just

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Speaker 1: particularly prone to cycling injury. Male genitals also have is use.

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Speaker 1: The cycling has been linked to genital sensitivity, a rectile dysfunction,

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Speaker 1: and numbness in men too, So this is a gender

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Speaker 1: equal issue. You know, bikes can be They can be

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Speaker 1: hard on your another regions, so we all gotta watch

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Speaker 1: out for it. But you know, maybe we just wouldn't

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Speaker 1: think of. I mean I never thought of, you know,

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Speaker 1: looping up before you go on a bike ride. I

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Speaker 1: think I think what the takeaway is here, Kristen, maybe

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Speaker 1: this is going to be a stretch, is that, Yes,

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Speaker 1: there are issues with biking. It can be scary in

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Speaker 1: a big city to bike. It can hurt your regina

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Speaker 1: to bike. But we've got to give credit to the

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Speaker 1: freedom machine, as early feminists called it, because it really

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Speaker 1: did help us equalize out. Think it got women out

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Speaker 1: of the house. In the ninees, the good proper women

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Speaker 1: stayed in their homes all the time and if they

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Speaker 1: went anywhere with it was with a man. So the

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Speaker 1: bicycle got us out. And that kind of freedom machine

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Speaker 1: can withstand a little scares on city streets and a

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Speaker 1: little cratchs. Don't be se don't be scared of helmet

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Speaker 1: hair and crasch idis. There are remedies for both. Embrace it,

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Speaker 1: embrace it, get get out on that two wheeled beast

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Speaker 1: and ride. And in the meantime, now we've probably freaked

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Speaker 1: everyone out with thoughts of lubricant and commando cycling Shorts

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Speaker 1: send us some e mails mom Stuff and how Stuff

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Speaker 1: works dot Com, and I have one here from Allison

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Speaker 1: about the Doctor Gender podcast. She writes, I've always felt

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Speaker 1: way more comfortable going to see women doctors for all

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Speaker 1: my doctor needs, including Dennis. I mentioned this to my

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Speaker 1: mother one day, and she said that she felt that

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Speaker 1: that was her fault. When I asked her what she meant,

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Speaker 1: she explained that growing up, she wanted my sisters and

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Speaker 1: I to have strong women role models, so she brought

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Speaker 1: us to see only women doctors. Only recently have I've

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Speaker 1: been more comfortable with the idea of seeing male doctors,

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Speaker 1: but really only as a last resort. If a woman

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Speaker 1: doctor is available, I will go see her before a

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Speaker 1: man doctor any day. It's something to think about for

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Speaker 1: when I have my own children. Isn't that kind of

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Speaker 1: interesting how she was just trying to expose your daughter

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Speaker 1: to female role models and now it's affected her whole life?

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Speaker 1: Was slippery slopes. I've got an email here from Rick,

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Speaker 1: and his his email really gave me a chuckle. He says,

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Speaker 1: my primary care doctor is a woman and wonderful, bright,

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Speaker 1: thoughtful and thorough, and not least because she has small

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Speaker 1: hands with long, slender fingers and is great at prostrate

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Speaker 1: check time and a far cry from my last mail

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Speaker 1: doctor who possessed an index finger that felt about the

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Speaker 1: size of a tunicn doing the same procedure. So there

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Speaker 1: we go. One aspect of female doctors we had not

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Speaker 1: thought about. That's true. Slender fingers, lady doctors perfect for

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Speaker 1: prostate checks. So if you have any emails to send

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Speaker 1: our way mom stuff at how stuff works dot com,

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Speaker 1: we'd love to see you over on Facebook as well,

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Speaker 1: head over there and like us, comment, you know, do

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Speaker 1: do all sorts of things that you do on that

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Speaker 1: crazy website, and then you can follow us on Twitter

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Speaker 1: as well. We are at mom Stuff Podcasts. And then lastly,

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Speaker 1: during the week you can check out our blog It's

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Speaker 1: stuff Mom Never told You at how stuff works dot

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Speaker 1: com for more on this and thousands of other topics.

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Speaker 1: Visit how stuff works dot com to learn more about

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Speaker 1: the podcast, cook on the podcast icon in the upper

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Speaker 1: right corner of our homepage. The how Stuff Works iPhone

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