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SEXY GLAM
MAGAZINE - APRIL 2017
Here’s a bit of context before we dive
into the history. “Safety bicycles,” as
they were known, caused quite the
raucous amongst Western women in
the early 19th century when they were
introduced. Doctors and ministers
denounced the newfangled vehicles,
claiming that bouncing harmed women’s
fragile insides and the friction of the
seat was likely to get them aroused. To
suffragists, however, the bicycle was the
“freedom machine,” freeing women of
ties to a male escort.
Early 1800s: Women Wear the Pants
Soon after bicycles hit the scene,
women eschewed their petticoats and
layered skirts in favor of bloomers and
boots. This small fashion shift revealed
women’s legs, and women’s bodies, in
mainstream culture like never before.
Women were simultaneously more
masculine and also more sexual. Things
were getting interesting.
She’s risqué but never explicit. She’s
flirtatious but fiercely independent.
She’s erotic but always safe for work, a
welcome sight for your teenage cousin
and prudish mother alike. She’s the
pin-up girl, an all-natural American
sweetheart created to win the adoration
of men across the country.
You’d know her if you saw her — the
rosy cheeks, bouncy curls, hourglass
figure and penchant for thematic lingerie
are pretty much a dead giveaway — but
how exactly did she come to be? Join us
as we travel back in time and explore the
origins of the pin-up girl, with the help
of the newly released “The Art of the
Pin-up.” It’s a peculiar journey, one that
overlaps with both women’s liberation
and women’s objectification along the
way. Our timeline begins, oddly enough,
with the invention of the “safety bicy-
cle” in the 1800s.
Early 1800s: Enter the Bicycle
1889: The First Calendar (Girls)
Thomas Murphy and Edmond Osborne
print the first calendar featuring ads
beneath the images. The concept was in-
spired; calendars do guarantee an entire
year of ad space. The first calendar, fea-
turing an image of George Washington,
and it unsurprisingly didn’t do so hot. In
fact, the calendar market didn’t heat up
until 1903 and the release of the first girl
calendar, titled “Cosette.”