Following the Gibson Girl, whose figure borrowed slenderness from the steel-engraving lady and large breasts and hips from the voluptuous woman, came the flapper. The flapper, who saw the fuller, plump female body as a symbol of reproduction and fertility, instead promoted feminine liberation through higher hemlines and shorter hair. 20
Even more intertwined with the social and cultural movements of the time than was the Gibson Girl was the Flapper of the 1920s. She more aggressively and abruptly brought about change in her respective era. However, it is important to acknowledge that the success of the Flapper would have been in no way achieved without the milder, yet equally as important, advances made by the Gibson Girl. Where the Gibson Girl introduced the idea of challenging fundamental social norms and gave meaning to the phrase gender equality, the Flapper revolutionized the way in which change occurred in America.
Once again, as we credited the exercise boom of the 1890s with some of the Gibson Girl's success, we credit the rise of consumerism, mass production, and the movie industry with much of the Flapper's success, "The flapper style, marketed in ways unknown to earlier generations, permeated popular culture. As mass consumerism geared up and took off during their stay at Smith, postwar students viewed the latest fashions in more sophisticated and more rapidly disseminated advertisements, in darkened movie theaters on the big screen, and at traveling department-store fashion shows which featured live models. Earlier students and their mothers also purchased 'ready made,' sized clothes, but it was in the late 1910s that the sophisticated fashion network of mass production, consumption, and distribution coalesced and accelerated fashion conformity." 21
The Flapper capitalized on both the positive and negative attention she was receiving and used all kinds of recognition as leverage to execute their own political and social agendas. As they cut their hair, shortened their dresses, and flaunted their belly buttons, they felt as if they were declaring their independence as females who possessed the same rights to express themselves as men had. They exercised their newfound liberties in dress, the work force, and everyday life as they experimented in different appearances, unconventional female jobs, as well as untraditional lifestyle choices. These choices ranged from personal decisions such as publicly smoking and driving, to family alterations such as delaying marriage and emphasizing the empowerment within being single. There was a continuation of deemphasizing male superiority, a notion that Flappers borrowed from the Gibson Girls, as women felt more and more able to engage activities out of a desire to please themselves, rather than to please a father, brother, or husband. 22
However, as revolutionary and ground-breaking as we often view the Flapper's role to have been, "critics were quick to elucidate the shortcomings of flapperism. The political agenda embraced by the previous generation was largely ignored until the feminist revival of the 1960s. Many wondered if flappers were expressing themselves or acting like men. Smoking, drinking, and sexual experimentation were characteristic of the modern young woman." 23
Despite the strong repudiation of and opposition to the Flapper's movement during their time, their role in American culture had an undeniable and lasting effect on the way we, as Americans, have since regarded different mediums of feminine expression. Although the fruits of their labor were not enjoyed until years after the original Flappers' plights, they left a stamp of individuality on the American spirit that may never be worn down by time. They paved a path that not only made acceptable, but promoted the notion of subjecting oneself to public ridicule, social onslaught and judgement at the expense of inciting positive societal and cultural change.
Even more intertwined with the social and cultural movements of the time than was the Gibson Girl was the Flapper of the 1920s. She more aggressively and abruptly brought about change in her respective era. However, it is important to acknowledge that the success of the Flapper would have been in no way achieved without the milder, yet equally as important, advances made by the Gibson Girl. Where the Gibson Girl introduced the idea of challenging fundamental social norms and gave meaning to the phrase gender equality, the Flapper revolutionized the way in which change occurred in America.
Once again, as we credited the exercise boom of the 1890s with some of the Gibson Girl's success, we credit the rise of consumerism, mass production, and the movie industry with much of the Flapper's success, "The flapper style, marketed in ways unknown to earlier generations, permeated popular culture. As mass consumerism geared up and took off during their stay at Smith, postwar students viewed the latest fashions in more sophisticated and more rapidly disseminated advertisements, in darkened movie theaters on the big screen, and at traveling department-store fashion shows which featured live models. Earlier students and their mothers also purchased 'ready made,' sized clothes, but it was in the late 1910s that the sophisticated fashion network of mass production, consumption, and distribution coalesced and accelerated fashion conformity." 21
The Flapper capitalized on both the positive and negative attention she was receiving and used all kinds of recognition as leverage to execute their own political and social agendas. As they cut their hair, shortened their dresses, and flaunted their belly buttons, they felt as if they were declaring their independence as females who possessed the same rights to express themselves as men had. They exercised their newfound liberties in dress, the work force, and everyday life as they experimented in different appearances, unconventional female jobs, as well as untraditional lifestyle choices. These choices ranged from personal decisions such as publicly smoking and driving, to family alterations such as delaying marriage and emphasizing the empowerment within being single. There was a continuation of deemphasizing male superiority, a notion that Flappers borrowed from the Gibson Girls, as women felt more and more able to engage activities out of a desire to please themselves, rather than to please a father, brother, or husband. 22
However, as revolutionary and ground-breaking as we often view the Flapper's role to have been, "critics were quick to elucidate the shortcomings of flapperism. The political agenda embraced by the previous generation was largely ignored until the feminist revival of the 1960s. Many wondered if flappers were expressing themselves or acting like men. Smoking, drinking, and sexual experimentation were characteristic of the modern young woman." 23
Despite the strong repudiation of and opposition to the Flapper's movement during their time, their role in American culture had an undeniable and lasting effect on the way we, as Americans, have since regarded different mediums of feminine expression. Although the fruits of their labor were not enjoyed until years after the original Flappers' plights, they left a stamp of individuality on the American spirit that may never be worn down by time. They paved a path that not only made acceptable, but promoted the notion of subjecting oneself to public ridicule, social onslaught and judgement at the expense of inciting positive societal and cultural change.
20. Moe, Barbara A. Understanding Negative Body Image.
21. Leavitt, Judith Walzer. Women and Health in America: Historical Readings.
22. Ushistory.org. "Flappers." U.S. (History Online Textbook. Last modified 2008.)
23. Ibid.
21. Leavitt, Judith Walzer. Women and Health in America: Historical Readings.
22. Ushistory.org. "Flappers." U.S. (History Online Textbook. Last modified 2008.)
23. Ibid.
