Women have routinely been punished and intimidated for attempting that most simple of freedoms, taking a walk, because their walking and indeed their very beings have been construed as inevitably, continually sexual in those societies concerned with controlling women's sexuality.

Rebecca Solnit
About This Quote

In the past, women have been punished and intimidated for attempting that most simple of freedoms, taking a walk. Women were not allowed to go out for walks with men and in some places were even punished if they did so. The punishment was usually a fine and in the worst cases imprisonment. It was not until the late 1800s that women were eventually given the right to take walks without the fear of punishment.

Source: Wanderlust: A History Of Walking

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