Flapper Movement
The Effect of the Flappers on Today's Women
The 1920's in the U.S. And UK can be described as a period of great change, both socially and economically. During this period the image of the women completely changed and a "new women" emerged who appears to have impacted social changes occurring in future generations of both men and women. This new symbol of the women was the Flapper. The Flapper was a new type of young woman that was rebellious, fun, bold and outspoken (Zeitz, 2006). This research paper explains the rise and fall of the Flapper in the 1920's, explores its historical and current impact on women in terms of culture, work, gender and social behavior and reflects on its long-term impact of the position of today's women.
Evolution of the Flapper
Flappers, most often characterized as the "New Woman," originally emerged in the 1920s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The Flapper movement involved quite a shift in traditional women's values and how women presented themselves. The Flappers wore short skirts that went slightly above the knee, wore "excessive" makeup, bobbed their hair, smoked, drank alcohol, listened the jazz, drove cars instead of being driven by men, treated sex in a casual manner, and embraced other fashions and attitudes that violated what was then considered acceptable behavior for women (Evans, 1981). The origin of the Flappers began prior to the 1920s as a result of the political and social turbulence as well as an increased exchange of culture (which included the export of jazz to Europe and exchanges of fashions between the UK and U.S.) following the First World War. Nonetheless the Flappers did not just appear out of nowhere but represented a trend of separation with traditional values. There were several prior historical amounts that occurred prior to the Flapper movement that set the stage for the emergence of the radical changes that the Flappers embraced.
The Suffrage Movement
In the late 19th century and early part of the 20th century the Suffragettes consisted of members of women's right to vote groups that were opposed to the traditional male -- dominated notion of politics and participation in political matters that had previously been the dominant viewpoint in the UK and U.S. (Crawford, 2002). These activists, particularly the women members of these groups, challenged many of the traditional notions of male and female behavior, and many of the women were imprisoned or in some cases even died for this cause (Crawford, 2002). Women received the right to vote in the certain states in the United States starting in the late 1800s and this right was extended across the United States with the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920, whereas all women over the age of 21 were given the right to vote in 1928 in the UK following earlier legislation that allowed female property owners over the age of 30 to vote (Crawford, 2002). The Suffragettes or Suffrage Movement was a major force in challenging traditional gender roles and notions of "appropriate" gender behavior allowing women to more freely express themselves and be more assertive regarding their wants, needs and desires.
The Gibson Girl
The shift in the traditional notion of femininity can be observed by the drawings of the Charles Dana Gibson and the Gibson Girl prior to the First World War (Mazur, 1986). Gibson's drawings depicted a girl with long hair and long straight skirts with high collars. The Gibson Girl was considered to be the epitome of beauty; however, the drawings also transcended several traditional gender lines such as allowing for her participation in sports that were conventionally considered to be the domain of men in nature such as golf and bicycling. Some historians argue that the Gibson Girl was the first national beauty standard in America and it is this standard that set the tone for both conformity and later rebellion (Mazur, 1986).
World War I
The advent of the First World War resulted in a major attitude shift in younger people. The soldiers participating in combat took on the Shakespearean attitude of "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die" as a result of the large casualties they witnessed in the trenches in Europe. The soldiers also begin to question the values of the older generation and the mindset and ethics of their leaders that led to the horrific conflict in Europe. Women had been indoctrinated into patriotic fever and had been aggressively used as workers to support both the war effort and the economies...
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