Cultural Changes In The 1920's

A question that is frequently asked is, “how has society changed over the years?” A time period that is well known for drastic cultural change is the 1920s. As the culture changed, women changed the standard for how they thought they should live, what they should wear, how to be entertained, and the amount of rights they possessed. What started the chain reaction of changes? One initial kick start for these women was the 19th Amendment. It stated that women now had the right to vote. The economy was rapidly advancing with the development of new inventions, causing an increase in need for women to work. Due to the phone being used more frequently, women worked in offices as secretaries. Women also worked in department stores to help appeal to the average American lady (“Flapper”). Another push for change came with the Model T. This fairly affordable car allowed tasks to get done quicker which went right along with the fast paced lives of the average American in the twenties. The Model T also enabled women to escape from the traditional
courting accompanied by a chaperone and be alone with their date. The extravagant life style of this decade called for bedazzling entertainment. Easy access to radios, even in their cars, brought commercials by advertising companies, news, and music ("1920's Fashion for Women"). Movies became a huge success. Originally they were shown silently, but by the late twenties “talkies” were the thing to see (“Flapper”). What seems to be the most preferred form of entertainment, were jazz clubs. Getting out to go dancing, see friends, and listen to music in a jazz club somewhere was an attractive idea to many people (“The Roaring Twenties”). The ways of the average Victorian-styled woman get put away as new, edgy-fashioned ladies come about. These boundary-pushing girls were given the name “flappers”. Flappers cut their long, pinned up hair into short bobs. The clothing changed drastically; girls began to show much more skin than was ever allowed before. Bathing suits were created that showed off more arm and leg skin than ever before. Dresses of the era were straight cut and loosely fitted ("1920's Fashions and Accessories including Prices"). Panties and bras replaced long pantaloons and corsets; making dancing easier as well as more comfortable (“Flapper”). These defiant flappers changed the acceptable standard for what women were allowed to wear. As a society shifts from one stage to another, you will always have positive and negative effects.
During the twenties, women were desperate to be set equal to men in any way thinkable. They began to push moral boundaries in order to have fun. Smoking was formerly something only men did, but flappers heavily picked it up (“Flappers”). Another con during this time was STDs; they were widely spread due to many people going with Sigmund Freud’s theory. His theory stated that it was a human necessity to have sexual exploration (“Dating in the Roaring Twenties”). The best products from the twenties were the new inventions and women’s rights (“Flappers”). Many of the inventions created in the twenties are still used in our everyday life: the car, stoplight, radio, and many others. Women became valued much higher and were seen as being capable of working in ways they had not before ("1920's Fashions and Accessories including
Prices). Although culture is constantly changing and the world’s standards are not constant, by the lives of the women in the twenties, it is evident that they reaped the consequences of living in any way they pleased. They successfully changed the standard for how they were expected to conduct themselves, how they should dress, what to be entertained by, and the amount of rights they were granted. With any change there should be an awareness of the effects it may bring.