a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

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English

WOTD – 8 March 2021

Etymology

A well-known feminist slogan coined in 1970 by the Australian filmmaker, social activist, and writer Irina Dunn (born 1948); according to her recollection, adapted from the phrase “A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle” which she read in a philosophical text. The original phrase appears to be “A man without faith is like a fish without a bicycle”, coined by Charles S. Harris in 1955 and published in a 1958 article in the Swarthmore Phoenix. The phrase is often erroneously attributed to the American feminist journalist and social political activist Gloria Steinem (born 1934), but she disclaimed this in a letter to Time magazine published on 16 September 2000.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ə ˈwʊmən wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈmæn ɪz laɪk ə ˈfɪʃ wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈbaɪsɪkl̩/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ə ˈwʊmən wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈmæn ɪz laɪk ə ˈfɪʃ wɪðˌaʊt ə ˈbaɪˌsɪkəl/
  • Hyphenation: a wo‧man with‧out a man is like a fish with‧out a bi‧cyc‧le

Phrase

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

  1. (figuratively, humorous, simile) A woman is capable of living a complete and independent life without a man.
    • 1975 January 25, “Column 8”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, number 42,779, Sydney, N.S.W.: John Fairfax & Sons, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 8:
      We found this anonymous contribution to International Women's Year on a wall at Forest Lodge: "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."
      Apparently the first appearance of the phrase in print.
    • 1990, Jane Adams, Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty: How to Live Happily Ever After—Starting Right Now, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, page 107:
      No matter how hip or how liberated I got to be, I could never really convince my deepest self that a woman without a man, at least when the music started, was like a fish without a bicycle.
    • 2009, Wesley L. Ford, “Safe Conduct: Guidelines for an Affair of the Heart”, in How to Pick a Lover: For Women Who Want to Win at Love, : Xlibris, →ISBN, page 359:
      Women who are ideologically opposed to marriage would go along with Gloria Steinem's commonly quoted maxim: "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle." If, whatever your reasons, you are adamantly not the marrying kind, then it is important for you to make that clear to any man who becomes involved with you.
    • 2012, Hanne Blank, “The Marrying Type”, in Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality, Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, →ISBN:
      By 1962, well before the so-called "sexual revolution" or even the feminist slogan "a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle," Helen Gurley Brown could write in Sex and the Single Girl, "I think marriage is insurance for the worst years of your life.["]
    • 2014 November, Mary McHugh, Chorus Lines, Caviar, and Corpses: A Happy Hoofers Mystery, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 28:
      "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle," I said. "One of these days you're going to want another bicycle," she said, laughing.

Alternative forms

Translations

References

  1. ^ Confirmed in an e-mail from Dunn dated 28 January 2002: see John S. Allen (2000–2001) “A Bit of Herstory: The Definitive Word on the Origin!”, in The Fish and Bicycle Page: Exploring Some (Fast?) Eddies in the Stream of American Culture‎, archived from the original on 2 October 2002.
  2. ^ Roccatorso (1958 April 7) “Quote”, in The Swarthmore Phoenix: Student Newspaper of Swarthmore College, volume 78, number 20 (indicated as 18), Swarthmore, Pa.: Students of Swarthmore College, →OCLC, page 2, column 3: see Nigel Rees, compiler (2001) Cassell’s Humorous Quotations, London: Cassell, →ISBN, pages 459–460; and Garson O’Toole (2016 October 18) “A Woman Without a Man is Like a Fish Without a Bicycle”, in Quote Investigator‎, retrieved 20 February 2021.
  3. ^ Gary Martin (1997–) “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle”, in The Phrase Finder.
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