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Flappers In The 1920's

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The flapper represented the “modern woman” in American youth culture in the 1920’s, and was epitomized as an icon of rebellion and modernity. Precocious, young, stubborn, beautiful, sexual, and independent, the flapper image and ideology revolutionized girlhood. The term “flapper” originated in England to describe a girl who flapped and had not yet reached maturity. Middle-class, white, adolescent girls embraced the symbol of the flapper and the development of change and innovation. It is important to note not all young women embraced the flapper’s rebellious movement and adhered to traditional pre-World War I morals and values. Young women who joined the flapper movement would no longer abide by pre-conceived conventional expectations …show more content…

The rejection of tradition shocked adults and a moral panic ensued. The reaction older, more modest generations had to the flapper perpetuated the youth movement making it more powerful and purposeful. Adult perspectives viewed the flappers as immoral, indecent and an ill on society. This in turn challenged adults to consider their own ideas about youth and childhood innocence. Flappers of the 1920’s revolutionized youth culture by challenging societal perceptions of femininity, sociological ideas, and conventional concepts of women’s roles within society.
This paper will be developed in four stages. The first stage will evaluate why the flapper rebellion began. The second stage will examine the specific fashion, behavior, and ideals the flappers used to challenge societal expectations of girlhood. The third stage will construct the specific experiences the adolescent flappers endured. Finally, the fourth stage will examine how adult perceptions about adolescence shaped the societal reactions to the …show more content…

Freedom was equated to sexual promiscuity and embracing one’s sexual self. No longer would young women feel constrained to reject pre-marital sex. Rather during the 1920’s “necking” and “petting” were terms used to describe the new definition of courtship. Young women embraced their new found sexuality. This “new order” of culture, “reflected indulgence, and an emphasis on immediate gratification, often in the form of sex and other bodily pleasures.” Sexual experiences combined with sexual promiscuity liberated young women to own their own bodies and to reject shame for doing so. Young women flaunted their new found sexuality by the specific clothing they chose to represent the flapper

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In the 1920s there were bold, venturesome, dauntless young women who broke society's idea of women standards to change the whole American culture. The book, Flapper, by Joshua Zeitz discusses the effects that books, movies, and celebrities of this time, had on the average women, which caused this era of flappers. These young women known as flappers weren’t the only change that the post World War One era brought. Throughout the book, these changes are brought up from religion to morals, to other changes, and these changes are what would completely develop new social norms in America.

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Traditional values were questioned by modern beliefs, with African Americans gaining confidence throughout the Harlem Renaissance, in addition to women finding new ground in American culture, marking their image forever, embracing their new form: flappers. Throughout the 1920’s events such as the Great Migration, with new roles of women shook the American region, as the conflict of tradition, versus modernization, began. To begin,

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Flappers defined as certain type of women in the United States in the 1920's, also known for their unconventional style and behavior. They are the symbol of roaring twenties. “The flappers moved away from the long dress and the corset of the years before and embraced shorter brighter dresses. They cut there hair and took a bob cut over long flowing

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With the right to vote, consumer based culture, leisure time, and modernism, women who followed these new practices and ideals created the flapper image of the roaring twenties we know today. In Fitzgerald’s story he describes the girls almost wanting to be flappers to me it seems as if in almost all of Fitzgerald’s books he has a girl who is the opposite of what her society wants her to be like and is leaning towards the lifestyle of a flapper girl it's like they are all the same person or have many of the same characteristic in “ The Great Gatsby” which is one of my favorite books, Jordan Baker is a golfer who represents what the new woman is which is cynical,boyish, and self centered. She kinda reminds me of how Beatrice and Marjorie are at the end. They had almost every iconic element of a flapper besides the bobbed hair,but they loved to party at the end , they dance to jazz music, was cut-in every few feet on the dance floor, was always wearing the latest fashions, and was all over casual dating. With this new flashy and flirtatious attitude and charm that young women

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The Roaring Twenties created many new types of people. Perhaps the most famous kind of person was the Flapper Woman. Flappers were an up-and-coming breed of women who were, “Northern, urban, young, middle-class women” (Flappers). This sounds typical of women during this time, but there is more than meets the eye. Flappers were no strangers

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Since early ages, mothers have always criticized the ways their daughters acted. In the 1920s criticisms were taken a step further by the flappers, who completely revolutionized the view on females. Flappers in the 1920s had an impact on women for the future. Who they were, what they wore, and what their morals were was how their impacts changed the future for all the females. “The term "flapper" originated in the 1920s and refers to the fashion trend for unfastened rubber galoshes that "flapped" when walking, an attribution reinforced by the image of the free-wheeling flapper in popular culture.”

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While a majority of the “old-fashioned” people disagreed with the ways of flappers in this time, others saw it as a declaration of independance. “(…) the New Woman of the 1920s boldly asserted her right to dance, drink, smoke, and date—to work her own property, to live free of the strictures that governed her mother’s generation. (…) She flouted Victorian-era conventions and scandalized her parents. In many ways, she controlled her own destiny.”

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The Roaring Twenties, characterized as a progressive era toward changes and advances, it was a start for freedom and independence for women. Women gained political power by gaining the right to vote. They changed their traditional way to be, way to act and dress to gain respect, and the liberty of independence. Society had different ways of ideals and the ways women were willing to do were disapproved of, and it was wrong for lots of different people, including women from the older generation. In the 1920’s women went through a lot of changes that made them a free spirit, changes that made them what they are now and having the liberty of being independent.

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The 1920s were the first years of the new, modern America, with a growing consumer society and new ideas and rules. America saw many changes throughout this decade, including but not limited to social, economic and political changes. Throughout this time, new values were made with the growth of new forms of entertainment and education. After the Progressive Era, the ideas of political figures changed with a new focus on conservative politics and less labor issues. With the new ability for people to buy other products than basic needs, their money went to new inventions, causing new industries to grow.

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Flappers, known for their short hair, short dresses, and rebellious attitudes towards traditional gender roles, showed a new generation of women who were unafraid to challenge societal norms and expectations, paving the way for greater gender equality in the decades to come. The rise of flappers is considered a "cultural revolution" as it challenged traditional gender roles and norms, inspiring a new generation of women to break free from societal constraints. Working in the men's world during the war gave women a taste of financial independence and a desire for social change. This proves that the emergence of flappers was progressive because women were able to break away from traditional gender roles and prove that they were just as capable as men in the workforce. Their choices of fashion, such as bobbed hair and short dresses, were considered very outrageous by people who held onto traditional values.

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The image of the flapper was used in magazines and advertising and lead to the influence of mass consumer culture and media. This new image of the flapper “encouraged both the consumption of new products and new patterns of consumption and provided women with accessible routes to engage with modernity.” Since women started to gain rights such as voting and opportunity to gain jobs, women started to gain a sense of freedom and started to mix in with the new modern world they were entering in. As stated before, technology started to rise, and companies wanted to sell these new products. So, companies started to aim towards women in

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656 Words | 3 Pages

Attendance rates doubled in high schools and colleges offered more classes for students; more women attended universities. With a new change in clothing, such as wearing skirts and exposing more skin, women started a sexual liberation movement that allowed all women to take a stand. “Flapper fashion was both a trend and a social statement, a deliberate parting of ways with rigid Victorian gender roles, which emphasized plain living, hard work, and religion, to embrace consumerism and personal choice,” (The Culture of the Roaring Twenties). This was a point of

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Despite this, women were able to make a huge impact on America through social reforms. Many young women went against the beliefs of their parents. Prior to the Roaring Twenties, America was in a Victorian era. Women wore dresses that were floor-length, their hair was long and premarital sex was almost non-existent. During the 1920’s however, some women became what are known as “flappers”.

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In “The Flapper,” the poem describes what is like to be a flapper and how a flapper acted. This poem makes sure to highlight how women felt and why they wanted to be flappers. Both the novel and the poem talk about flappers and have similar themes, plots, and symbols about women during the ‘20s. Similar to the novel , the poem has a strong message about women and how they were thought of.

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In this aspect, the 1920s were one of the most influential decades in U.S. history because of the introduction of the "New Women". "New Women," or flappers, were young women who embraced the new ideas, freedoms, and modernism of the Roaring Twenties. Flappers wore new and popular clothing from the era. Their signature look was short "bob" hair, which represented their independence to men. A majority of flappers were women's suffrage activist.

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