Grab yours today! Makes a great gift too!
.: Vibrantly printed polyester twill cover & polyester pillow insert
.: Finished Product Measurements: 16.5 x 15.5 inches; Insert size 18 x 18 inches
.: All product components sourced & constructed in USA
.: 14.5 inch opening & 16mm zipper pull
.: Care Instructions: Cover - Machine wash inside-out & tumble dry low; Insert - Spot clean only
“A Woman Needs a Man Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle” is a feminist slogan that humorously expresses the view that a woman can live her life perfectly well without a man. The phrase uses absurdist humor—comparing the relationship between women and men to the equally nonsensical relationship between fish and bicycles—to challenge traditional assumptions about women’s dependence on men. It became one of the most recognizable and witty expressions of 1970s feminism, encapsulating the movement’s emphasis on female independence and self-sufficiency.
The slogan was coined in 1970 by Irina Dunn, an Australian student at the University of Sydney. According to her own account, Dunn was inspired by her involvement in the emerging women’s movement and by a philosophical text she had read containing the phrase “A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle.” She wrote her adapted version on the backs of two toilet doors in Sydney—one at Sydney University and another at Soren’s Wine Bar in Woolloomooloo. These bathroom stalls were already popular graffiti sites, and from these humble beginnings, the phrase spread rapidly throughout the feminist movement and beyond.
Despite its clear origins, the phrase has often been misattributed to Gloria Steinem, the prominent American feminist journalist and activist, or to Flo Kennedy, another American feminist and political activist. Some sources also credited an anonymous author who allegedly painted the slogan on a wall at the University of Wisconsin in 1969. However, Gloria Steinem herself corrected this misconception in a letter to Time magazine in 2000, writing: “In fact, Irina Dunn, a distinguished Australian educator, journalist and politician, coined the phrase back in 1970 when she was a student at the University of Sydney. She paraphrased the philosopher who said, ‘Man needs God like fish needs a bicycle.’ Dunn deserves credit for creating such a popular and durable spoof of the old idea that women need men more than vice versa.”
The phrase format itself has a long history predating Dunn’s feminist version. The construction “A needs a B like a C needs a D” was well-established in American usage many years before 1970. One early example appeared in The Hartford Courant, a Connecticut newspaper, in December 1898: “The place [Aragon, Spain] didn’t need an American consul any more than a cow needs a bicycle; for it had no trade with America, and no American tourist ever dreamed of stopping there.” The earliest version specifically using “fish” and “bicycle” appears to be “A man without faith is like a fish without a bicycle,” coined by Charles S. Harris in 1955 and published in the Swarthmore Phoenix in 1958. These earlier iterations provided the template that Dunn would transform into a feminist rallying cry.
The slogan’s cultural impact extended far beyond the feminist movement of the 1970s. It quickly became adopted as one of the most witty and direct expressions of second-wave feminism, appearing on posters in feminist bookshops, as graffiti on walls, and in countless discussions about women’s liberation. The phrase was first documented in print in January 1975 when The Sydney Morning Herald reported finding “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.’” The slogan later entered popular culture through various channels, most notably in U2’s 1991 song “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” from the album Achtung Baby, where Bono sang: “And a woman needs a man / Like a fish needs a bicycle.”
The enduring power of the slogan lies in its clever distillation of a complex political message into a memorable, humorous phrase. The key word, as some commentators have noted, is not “woman” or “man” but “need.” The phrase doesn’t suggest that women should reject love or companionship, but rather challenges the notion of dependence—the idea that women require men for completeness, survival, or legitimacy. As one analysis put it, “dependence, not love, equals oppression.” By using absurdist humor to make this point, Dunn created a phrase that was both politically powerful and culturally accessible, allowing it to resonate across generations and remain relevant more than five decades after it first appeared on those Sydney bathroom doors.
Grab yours today! Makes a great gift too!
.: Vibrantly printed polyester twill cover & polyester pillow insert
.: Finished Product Measurements: 16.5 x 15.5 inches; Insert size 18 x 18 inches
.: All product components sourced & constructed in USA
.: 14.5 inch opening & 16mm zipper pull
.: Care Instructions: Cover - Machine wash inside-out & tumble dry low; Insert - Spot clean only
“A Woman Needs a Man Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle” is a feminist slogan that humorously expresses the view that a woman can live her life perfectly well without a man. The phrase uses absurdist humor—comparing the relationship between women and men to the equally nonsensical relationship between fish and bicycles—to challenge traditional assumptions about women’s dependence on men. It became one of the most recognizable and witty expressions of 1970s feminism, encapsulating the movement’s emphasis on female independence and self-sufficiency.
The slogan was coined in 1970 by Irina Dunn, an Australian student at the University of Sydney. According to her own account, Dunn was inspired by her involvement in the emerging women’s movement and by a philosophical text she had read containing the phrase “A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle.” She wrote her adapted version on the backs of two toilet doors in Sydney—one at Sydney University and another at Soren’s Wine Bar in Woolloomooloo. These bathroom stalls were already popular graffiti sites, and from these humble beginnings, the phrase spread rapidly throughout the feminist movement and beyond.
Despite its clear origins, the phrase has often been misattributed to Gloria Steinem, the prominent American feminist journalist and activist, or to Flo Kennedy, another American feminist and political activist. Some sources also credited an anonymous author who allegedly painted the slogan on a wall at the University of Wisconsin in 1969. However, Gloria Steinem herself corrected this misconception in a letter to Time magazine in 2000, writing: “In fact, Irina Dunn, a distinguished Australian educator, journalist and politician, coined the phrase back in 1970 when she was a student at the University of Sydney. She paraphrased the philosopher who said, ‘Man needs God like fish needs a bicycle.’ Dunn deserves credit for creating such a popular and durable spoof of the old idea that women need men more than vice versa.”
The phrase format itself has a long history predating Dunn’s feminist version. The construction “A needs a B like a C needs a D” was well-established in American usage many years before 1970. One early example appeared in The Hartford Courant, a Connecticut newspaper, in December 1898: “The place [Aragon, Spain] didn’t need an American consul any more than a cow needs a bicycle; for it had no trade with America, and no American tourist ever dreamed of stopping there.” The earliest version specifically using “fish” and “bicycle” appears to be “A man without faith is like a fish without a bicycle,” coined by Charles S. Harris in 1955 and published in the Swarthmore Phoenix in 1958. These earlier iterations provided the template that Dunn would transform into a feminist rallying cry.
The slogan’s cultural impact extended far beyond the feminist movement of the 1970s. It quickly became adopted as one of the most witty and direct expressions of second-wave feminism, appearing on posters in feminist bookshops, as graffiti on walls, and in countless discussions about women’s liberation. The phrase was first documented in print in January 1975 when The Sydney Morning Herald reported finding “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.’” The slogan later entered popular culture through various channels, most notably in U2’s 1991 song “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” from the album Achtung Baby, where Bono sang: “And a woman needs a man / Like a fish needs a bicycle.”
The enduring power of the slogan lies in its clever distillation of a complex political message into a memorable, humorous phrase. The key word, as some commentators have noted, is not “woman” or “man” but “need.” The phrase doesn’t suggest that women should reject love or companionship, but rather challenges the notion of dependence—the idea that women require men for completeness, survival, or legitimacy. As one analysis put it, “dependence, not love, equals oppression.” By using absurdist humor to make this point, Dunn created a phrase that was both politically powerful and culturally accessible, allowing it to resonate across generations and remain relevant more than five decades after it first appeared on those Sydney bathroom doors.
