From 1910 to 1913, women suffragists in the United States organized annual parades – an activity traditionally conducted by men to proclaim solidarity in some cause – not only as a public expression of suffragist solidarity but also a conscious transgression of the rules of social order: women's very presence in the streets challenged traditional notions of femininity and restrictions on women's conduct. While recognizing the parade's rhetorical force as a vehicle for social change, scholars have recently begun to examine its drawbacks as a form of protest. Lumsden characterizes the American suffrage parade as a "double-edged sword", arguing that women's efforts to proclaim their solidarity left them open to patronizing commentary from press and public and to organized opposition from antisuffragists.