Roaring Twenties Feminism
Social and Cultural Changes Open Doors for American Women
- Feb 26, 2009
- Michael Streich
- Louise Brooks, 1927 - Library of Congress
The “Roaring Twenties” brought a new sense of freedom into the lives of a growing, urban American middle class. Expanding consumerism allowed Americans to go beyond the “normalcy” they voted for in 1920 and focus on new technologies that appeared to make life easier in almost every aspect of culture and society. Women, particularly, felt the new freedom, having gained the right to vote in 1920. As Bruce Bliven wrote in the September 9th, 1925 edition of The New Republic, “Women have highly resolved that they are just as good as men…” The 1920s was a time of prosperity amidst a decline in fundamentalism and post-Victorian prudishness.
Women in the Roaring Twenties
The female icon of the years preceding the 1929 Wall Street crash was the flapper, a “thoroughly modern” sophisticated woman regarded as the “perfectly horrible example of wild youth…” by the old purists, according to Bliven. Although most women were not flappers, the seeds of change, glamorized by this new breed of women, had its effect. Women were smoking in public, wearing fewer clothes, and “going steady” without the watchful eyes of a chaperon.
The changes in female attitudes could only have taken place within a society that itself was entering new realms of possibilities brought about in large part through consumerism. John D’Emillio and Estelle Freedman, in their book Intimate Matters, equate growing consumerism with individual fulfillment: “An ethic that encouraged the purchase of consumer products also fostered an acceptance of pleasure, self-gratification, and personal satisfaction, a perspective that easily translated to the providence of sex.”
Increasing high school attendance allowed young women a greater degree of socialization while the mass proliferation of the automobile provided a new level of independence. By 1929, Americans were purchasing 23 million cars. In Bruce Bliven’s “Flapper Jane” account, Jane strolls “across the lawn of her parents’ suburban home, having just put the car away after driving sixty miles in two hours.”
Consumerism, Prosperity, and Leisure Time Impact Feminism in the 1920s
An increase in urban delicatessens and the growth of the canned food industry meant less time in the kitchen preparing meals from scratch. More women than ever were using commercial laundries and the expansion of department stores increased the endless varieties of ready-to-wear clothes. As wages increased, both women and men had more discretionary income while the beginnings of mass consumer credit allowed families to purchase consumer goods on time payments.
Leisure activities grew as early Hollywood films began to replace vaudeville. Hollywood highlighted both the prosperity and the new openness regarding females, as did novels, women’s magazines, and newspapers. Destinations like Coney Island in New York afforded a day of inexpensive fun. New dances brought young adults closer together, literally, in what some called the “syncopated embrace.” Young people were marrying sooner than they had in the preceding decades.
Opposition and the Reality of Female Freedom in the Roaring Twenties
Despite the new openness and attitudes, significant opposition coming from preachers like Billy Sunday and the declining fundamentalist movement, slowed female causes. Local jurisdictions enacted laws regulating the length of women’s skirts. Some communities placed curfews on female teachers. Additionally, higher education was still predominantly limited to males.
1920s Women Still Faced Barriers
Women of the 1920s had “won a victory so nearly complete,” according to Bliven’s, yet Feminism was far from the reality. The post 1929 “Great Depression” would stall the breaking of still existing barriers and although “Rosie the Riveter” introduced mass female employment, such unlimited opportunities ended in 1945. Yet the 1920s reflects a period of significant achievement for women; they would never go back to days of separate spheres.
Sources:
Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920’s (New York: Harper & Row, 1964).
Bruce Bliven, “Flapper Jane,” The New Republic (September 9, 1925).
John D’Emillio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (New York: Harper & Row, 1988) p 234ff.
Robert Goldston, The Road Between the Wars: 1918-1941 (New York: Fawcett Crest, 1978).
William E. Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity 1914-32 (University of Chicago Press, 1958) see chapter 9, “The Revolution in Morals.”
No comments:
Post a Comment