Hannah Ahrens's List: History Research Paper

• June 1, 1922:

• For example, the conflict's brutality left many young people disillusioned, and led them to question traditional morality and values. T

  he war also indirectly accelerated the development of women's rights; for the duration of the fighting, many women took jobs that had been left vacant by men who went off to fight in the war, and they became more confident in their ability to work and function independently of men.
• For example, the conflict's brutality left many young people disillusioned, and led them to question traditional morality and values.
• The feminist movement was running strong at the time, and it encouraged women to aggressively pursue their goals and become more active in politics and society
• Other detractors of flappers maintained that they were essentially conformists, not free spirits, because they adhered to popular trends in fashion and behavior
• After all, they said, males had enjoyed such social privileges for generations, and it seemed only fair that the liberated "new woman" should now enjoy them too.
• World War I was one of the most important catalysts.
• To put it another way, the war shocked many young people into losing their faith in established institutions such as religion and the family, and some of them embraced the flapper's wild lifestyle as an expression of their newfound cynicism
• By 1929, more than 50% of single women in the U.S. were employed, and many of them lived alone and supported themselves in large cities such as Chicago and New York City.
• Historians note that 1920s working women typically struggled to make ends meet, and earned less than men
• Also, whereas women had frequently been isolated from one another in past generations, during the 1920s they often worked together in large groups
• Various other social changes accelerated the birth of the flapper, including changes in thinking about dating, sex and marriage.
• Around the time of the war, conservative attitudes toward dating, sex and gender roles began to erode.
• In addition to changing social attitudes, technological developments also played a part in the sexual revolution of the flappers.
• For example, the proliferation of the automobile during the 1910s and 1920s allowed young men and women to go on drives away from their homes and enjoy dates in more private, romantic settings.
• Furthermore, the increased use of electric lighting fostered the development of an urban "night life," which enabled young people to stay out and party together for longer periods of time.
• Without the advent of the automobile and the electric light, flappers might never have ach

  ieved the

  freedom necessary

  to develop their unique lifestyle.
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• Another important factor in the flapper's emergence was Prohibition (1920-33), a relatively short-lived attempt by the U.S. government to ban the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
• In short, flappers were not created by any single event, but by a series of political and social changes.

17 more annotations...

• Ruth Hooper, a former flapper, defended flappers in an article titled "Flapping Not Repented of," published in the July 16, 1922, edition of the New York Times.
• She takes a man's point of view as her mother never could, and when she loses she is not afraid to admit defeat, whether it be a prime lover or $20 at auction.