"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😁
You go girl!
We have a Dutch saying that goes;
"Once one sheep crosses the dam, more will follow"
When someone sets an example, often more will follow. I hope you inspired more women in your region to follow your example!
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Hope they will try too... Although many eyes were on me, but I really enjoyed it.😝😆
It's nice to see a girl from our community doing some cycling... Haha.
Congratulations, you received an ecency upvote through the curator @ahmedhayat. Keep spreading love through ecency
It's always first time I hope others wil try it too😅😍
There is always a first time for everything, so don't lose your confidence and keep riding your cycle.
Thanks for your lovely comment, I'll try not to lose confidence again while riding it...😍
It's your first time participating in the cycling community and I'm glad to see that a girl can ride a bicycle 😊
Girls are abe to do anything they want but they are bound in so many senses, but let it be.
Thanks for your love 🤗
I like your confidence, whatever you wish to do you can as far as you made up your mind to do it, at first I thoughts its the law, but since it's just a societal thing, ease the pressure and go for it, how about you be the one to break the jinx... There's so much fun cycling the things you love doing...
Thanks for sharing
Thanks alot for heart warming words,
No doubt cycling was so much fun, i was never aware that doing something out of the box makes you feel so much happy😂😝
You're very much welcome dear
Woohoo!!
Glad you got confident enough to ride it and have support of such a loving family :-)
Equality should be a basic right everywhere.
Love your bike tho :-D
Enjoy many more bike rides!
Thanks for calling me confident but actually I'm not 😂 I'm very shy if it comes to do something in public...
But I'm glad that i have started the trend, hope now other girls will follow it too✌😁
For a very shy person, you surely are confident about that 😂
Now i want you to ride it and show us😆
Sooon inshallah 🤣😆
In my opinion, there shouldn't be any embarrassment in this matter. Nowadays, many girls are riding motorcycles around us. In reality, we have made it difficult for women in this society. If a girl is driving a car or a bike, we stare at her so much that she feels embarrassed. Now, I think you should get a scotty like the one you should use to go to university.
Bike chla lene dety hn Cycle se hi khass dushmni ha😂 pr koi nhi hm toh chlayen gy😆
😂 cycle sy b koi problem ni. Asl mn aik bar try krty hen sb k bachi confuse hojy. But jo ni hoti uska kuch ni bigarh skty. yh sb ko aik mazak ki had tk. magar wakai kai reason hen js ki wja sy girls confuse hoten. Cultural restriction b hy but mry khyl mn infrastructure b suitable ni. r shyd security issues b.
Han boht se masly hoty hn... main ne jab ye pics bnai thi tab bhi main apne abba or bhai ko sath khara kiya howa tha🤣🤣
😅chlen koi bat ni. asy hi confidence ay ga.
It’s important for us to break social taboos and to move forward for our own good. Glad to see you cycling 🫶🏻
A very good friend of mine travels around the world by bicycle. She started in 2011, and she is still on the road!. Although the taboos in my country are much less than in your country, there were still many reactions that it is not normal and that a woman should not do that. You can look at her profile, she is a great role model for many women around the world: https://www.instagram.com/ciklonomad/
I wish you to persevere in your wishes and aspirations, especially bearing in mind that the bicycle is one of the most beautiful forms of transport that brings only benefits and not a single downside.
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@dejan.vuckovic(3/5) tipped @hadianoor
I am hearing this for the first time that PAKISTAN still holds unto an archaic culture that segregates the women in scheme of things. Anyways you can set the pace for other women to follow