The narrative of women and their change in American society only dates back within the last century of women. Women, before the prohibition, were prudes. After many centuries of unchange in their role in society, American women began to work for change in women culture. The temperance & suffrage movement proved to aim for that change. No alcohol was the goal for the temperance activist while suffrages aimed to get their right to vote. In 1918, they successfully got the government to pass the 18th amendment, which ban the sale of alcohol. Women and their role in society slowly changed after this when they passed the 19th amendment, giving them the right to vote. With this great change for them, women began to explore more possibilities in their gender.
The term of the flapper derived from pre-World War 1 slang that described weirdly and awkwardly dressed teenaged girls. The powdered face, showing “more skin is better” type appearance became part of society of England and soon would become part of image of women here in America. The Victorian era, long dress prude women now became more experimental with their sexuality. As the prohibition exhibit says “they broke traditional gender rules and established a new image of the modern women”. The dresses went from baggy to slim and became much shorter than they were before. A start of the new age was coming to power for the women of 1920’s.The Flapper’s of the 1920’s became the iconic symbol of women during this point in America’s history. Not only did their appearance change during this time but the way they acted during the time was provocative. The Flapper age became a change of much more than just their appearance. Some of the things that changed from their Victorian period counter parts were their drive for normal, casual sex. Another was their desire to drink more and smoke. Casual sex, drinking heavily, and smoking all became social norms for young women during this time period. They were the ones that drove some of the speakeasies during this epoch in history. Flappers were the symbol that would drive men to these places besides drinking alcohol. With the appearance and vision of women being so provocative, many women used this for the casual sex and money making (prostitution). It was the start of a new image for women that would sit in the minds of the people of the 1920’s and the future image of women, socially, here in America. Mire’s ideas make an individual’s image and vision vary from person to person. With the flapper, it was a transition of some of the elements we see today in women. This transition gave women a better definition then the prude, stay at home type that was seen during the Victorian Era through modern day people. Looking at this time period of prohibition, we can see that women have been incorporated more into society and that it is all thanks to this social change by the flapper of the prohibition era. |