"Do you want us to be embarrassed in front of others?
You don't care about our honour.
You are very open-minded.
You are a wanderer."
These are some of the things every girl hears when she says I want to ride a bicycle in Pakistan. But why does your dignity depend on the pedals of a bicycle? Boys are allowed to ride it and if they cycle, everyone says it's so cool that they're cycling to stay fit. But at the same time, the girls face a lot of criticism even when they say I want to ride it.
Pakistan is very developed even though there are many things that we have added to our culture from Western culture. But some people are still living in the 19th century. They judge a woman by her actions... but why always a woman? Men do many things which are not allowed in Islam, they do many things which hurt the honour of their parents but still, they are not answerable then why are women?
When girls get permission from parents and other relatives to cycle, another problem arises and that is the fear of the male gaze. Now a guy will say that girls get their attention by doing things like cycling and wearing short clothes but being a girl I want to say that they notice us even when we are doing nothing and just breathing.
Well, it's a long debate.... and I was here to share my experience of cycling🫣🤪
My motivation for cycling
I had been planning to ride a bicycle since the day I said I would ride it but it is not very easy especially when you live in a small town in Pakistan still I got the chance, thanks to my father who loves me so much. 😍
I was thinking that I would make a video of a bicycle ride but there were already so many people in the park watching me while I stepped on the cycle, I lost my confidence watching them, and I even forgot to pedal.
I hid my face, ohh so much embarrassment. My sister was capturing my photographs and my brother was laughing so hard.
It was my first time cycling in public so it was normal for me to feel shy but I think people need to make it normal for other girls too, it's our problem how we manage to ride a bicycle with an abaya but at least allow us to ride it.
I sometimes try to normalize it but I can't do it alone, if all the girls start riding it, no one will stop us. But some girls think that they will look weird while riding a bicycle. But seriously, it's just poison that society has pumped into our brains.
Hope it will become a normal thing for girls
Edit: After posting, I got to know it's necessary to post some other pics of cycle and cycling from different angles, I was actually posting here for the first time so I didn't know much about it... Next time I'll care about it😁
