How Oklahoma Cowgirls Defied the Patriarchy

The side saddle became so popular because the churches decided that women should not wear pants nor spread their legs. The thought of a woman sitting in a saddle with her legs spread was repulsive and disgusting to those who claimed that "riding a horse can ruin a girl's virginity and purity." In some churches, it was seen as almost demonic and an act of defiance to God.

Many people assume the side saddle was simply the product of fashion and the hiking of skirts was the issue, but the real idea had to do with women's biology and the idea that horse riding could ruin that biology and make a girl no longer "pure".

As a matter of fact, Mexican women did not ride side saddle until they were influenced in the 19th century by European social rules because it was seen as an "immodest posture" to ride properly in the saddle and the practicality of riding a horse properly to work cattle was considered vulgar for women because we were required to spread our legs to utilize the stirrups on each side of the horse and so that led to gaited horses becoming extremely popular in the South because eliminating a bouncy trot made it much easier for women to ride side saddle in a part of America where decorum and modesty were an utmost priority.

This is where the major difference in horsemanship came into play between western women and southern women. The harsh realities of the frontier and the fact that the west was primarily livestock country instead of crop farms caused women to abandon side saddles for roping saddles and ranch saddles and employ split skirts, which created a more modest picture while properly riding the horses.

Society became so upset about this that the suffragettes actually rode their horses astride in split skirts as an act of defiance and rejected the side saddle as a form of patriarchal control and unnecessary "purity culture". President (then police commissioner) Theodore Roosevelt was actually called to interpret such a display in a park where a woman riding astride was facing possible disciplinary action. He determined there was no actual law or statute forbidding women from riding astride, provided they rode in a proper manner. It was so offensive to see a woman riding astride that people were calling the police!

Lucille Mulhall (1890s–1900s): Known as "America’s first cowgirl, was raised on an Oklahoma ranch. She flatly rejected the restrictive sidesaddle customs of the American South and rode astride in divided skirts and trousers to compete directly—and win—against men in roping and riding events.

Mildred Chrisman was Oklahoma rodeo promoter and rider, and Chrisman actively ranched and performed in trousers and heavy western gear. She used her platform to keep rodeo events open for women during economic hardships, normalizing the image of the pants-wearing, astride-riding woman as a symbol of resilience.

Lulu Bell Parr was a legendary Wild West performer famously known as the "Champion Lady Bucking Horse Rider of the World." Though born in Indiana and raised partly in Wyoming and Ohio, her legacy is deeply tied to Oklahoma's historic Wild West shows. She rode side saddle until she became a Bronc rider and she was described as having "a grip of iron" in her thighs after riding an exceptionally talented chestnut mare. Parr explicitly pitched her lifestyle directly to the conservative women who shamed her for riding astride by boldly boasting to a Brooklyn Citizen reporter that riding a bucking horse "offers more fun than any pink tea or theatre party or tennis game ever yielded" to her "sisters in the city".

There were, of course, a couple female outlaws who took part in this display of defiance to include "Little Breeches" (Jennie Stevenson/Metcalf) who rode with Cattle Annie (Annie McDoulet) who stole horses and ammunition while working with the Doolin-Dalton gang and on the run from U.S. Marshals.

Tom King" (Flora Mundis) was active in Oklahoma around 1893, Mundis was a notorious horse thief known for wearing full masculine garb. She rode astride, carried pistols, and successfully escaped Oklahoma lawmen multiple times by blending in as a male rider on the trails.

Women riding horses astride and in pants became a highly debated movement in Oklahoma and the cowboys didn't care because women were finally able to rope and drag calves and the work was being shared more equally.

The plains Indians of Oklahoma were unintentionally defiant because they didn't care and thought hindering anyone from riding horses safely was always stupid and understood that sexualizing a woman for something that was such a major part of everyday life was an incredibly puzzling concept.