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The culture of the 1920s
The culture of the 1920s
Gender roles in the 1920s
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The culture of the 1920s
The culture of the 1920s
Gender roles in the 1920s
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
This new feminist took the form of a narrow woman with bobbed hair, heavy makeup, and an extravagant drinking problem. These revolutionary equalitarians were known as Flappers and began surfacing around the 1920s. Flappers challenged the remaining issues of a woman’s social injustice and disapproved women’s dependence of men. Flappers helped spark the feminist movement because they
Flappers broke many boundaries and expectations for women, bringing about great change in society during the 1920s. Flappers had a more feminine, daring appearance than the older generation. They wore a different style of dress, inspired by Coco Chanel. Coco Chanel inspired the “garconne look”, which was a dress made out of breathable fabrics, often
(Sauro 1) Flappers were typically young, urban, middle-classed women. Clara Bow was one of the women who popularized the flapper look, and acts. Clara bow also cultivated the devil-may-care attitude and fashion. Bow was referred to as the scarlet that had “it.”
To the women in these decades, beauty was the most crucial factor to guarantee their marriage; hence, they tried their best to be fashionable, purchased feminine products and participate in beauty contests informed constantly by media. Mens Fashion The styles of this decade were strongly influenced by the flappers, the fashionable young women. In this decade, long hair was completely out of fashion; short hair was in favor. Beauty Contest in the 1920s
They were asserting their rights to make personal choices” (Zeits, 69). Women who lived in the United States, especially flappers, often faced misogyny and condescension, however, they managed to successfully construct a vigorous, independent women, who was soon to become the future of America. For centuries, women in America had been expected to wear long dresses that covered their knees, and tight corsets that extenuates one's waist, which provided an “inviting” hourglass figure. The constraining clothing that women wore depicted the way they were treated before the flappers.
A woman who is free-minded and independent in America, a quite magnificent feat considering where women had been just years prior to the twenties. A prior suffragette, with a history of hardships unknown to her male counterpart, the flapper is the new and improved woman of the 20th century. Prior to 1919 women were considered to be nothing more than housewives that served no purpose other than too cook and clean. While men earned an ample wage at high-end jobs in fields such as government or medicine, women “dragged [themselves] off day by day to work until someone came along and married [them]. Sometimes she was a Cinderella, but more often she graduated a household drudge,” who had to struggle to make a living at horrible, low-end jobs (Crowther).
The 1920s carried much change in society. Some of these changes were more rights for women, jazz music, and prohibition. The people of the 1920s were disillusioned by society lacking in idealism and vision, sense of personal alienation, and Americans were obsessed with materialism and outmoded moral values (The Roaring Twenties).Cultural changes were strongly influenced by the destruction of World War I ending 1918. America needed to recover and with it youth rebelled against the norms of the older generations.
The white slavery epidemic can be traced back to the time period; the 1920s was a period of evolution for the typical woman, where the response was the flapper; a “...tomboyish and flamboyant [female]: [with] short bobbed hair; knee-length, fringed skirts; long, draping necklaces; and rolled stockings” and also it was stated in the same article that “...few women actually fit this image, it was used widely in journalism and advertising to represent the rebelliousness of the period” (Culture in the 1920s: Loosening Social Structure). The image of the new woman, the flapper, was just as manipulated by the press as it was for white slavery. The flapper was described to be more promiscuous, and to have more sexual freedom than before, having the ability to show kees which was frowned upon before.
1920s Advertising During the 1920s, advertisement started to increase and expand. Many ideas and tactics were used to lure the attention of the consumers. After World War I, America started to grow with a stable and growing economy. This flourishment made many American's live out the 1920s in prosperity.
It was good for partying and for a good day's work. These women were known as flappers.
Many women in urban areas became more independent and openly rebelled against tradition by cutting their hair short, wearing "provocative" clothing, smoking, and drinking. This liberated women was referred to as the flapper. Even though not all women in urban areas were flappers, many became to emerge from their traditional homemaking roles and fulfill other roles in
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”.
While these two groups had a lot of success in the 1920s, it can be argued that those selling bootlegged alcohol had the best time in the 1920s. Those involved with the selling of illicit alcohol were making a ton of money and therefore wielded a lot of power throughout many cities in the country. Most often their operations were being covered by drugstores in which they would sell medicinal alcohol to the masses. This alcohol would not come cheap though, a pint of “medicinal whiskey” went for $40 to $60 in inflation-adjusted dollars. Despite the new atmosphere in the 1920s that was noted with newfound toleration, there were still many anti-immigration and anti-African American sentiments.
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.
For the first time in history women did not feel so trapped. They had a little bit of freedom to do whatever they pleased. Society still tried to get women to wear conservative clothing. According to (“514 BROADWAY,” n.d.), “Although society matrons of a certain age continued to wear conservative dresses, forward-looking and younger women now made sportswear into the greatest change in post-war fashion. The tubular dresses of the ’Teens had evolved into a similar silhouette that now sported shorter skirts with pleats, gathers, or slits to allow motion to rule women’s fashion for the first time in history.”