Flappers Research Paper

The term "Flapper" originated from Great Britain shortly after WWI to describe young girls. This term then evolved into something women around the world that expressed themselves differently then modernists were called. Many referenced a flapper to a young bird just learning how to fly. A various amount of people believed that the word "Flapper" may have came from an older word used for prostitution. Flappers were a huge impact on the world today, many viewed the women that lived this lifestyle as reckless and more prone to sexual relationships. In the long run, they had caused great exploration to the lifestyles, music and fashion tastes, and women's right to this day. It took 72 years for women to earn the right to vote. Alice Paul was a
great impact of why women had gotten the right to be able to vote. She had stood behind something that she had believed in until equal rights were added to the constitution. Flappers also saw women differently, they believed that women should be able to do the same things that men could do. Women began working and expressing themselves very differently. These women were called "Flappers" because they were "showing more skin", wearing more makeup, cutting their hair, drinking and smoking, getting jobs, listening to jazz music and driving cars. These women that had gotten the title as Flappers were mainly middle-classed, urban and single women. Clara Bow was considered one of the most famous flappers. Women that were considered flappers took the mass entertainment time to their advantage. Women were listening to jazz music, which at the time in the Twenties was booming. This also was leading to the use of credit with the "Buy Now, Pay Later" slogan.
To listen to the jazz music, women would have had to purchase radios, which they had used their credit to purchase or they would go to the local speakeasies and clubs to experience this type of music. Flappers were considered a "Lightening Rod" for cultural debate. Movies, radios shows, ads, and magazines all impacted the way that women wanted to look. Women were covering their faces in makeup, cutting their hair from their knees to above their shoulders and wearing short, right above the knee, flowing dresses that left women feeling free. A lot of women to this day still compare themselves to the things we see on TV and see in magazines or on social media. Someone is always going to compare themselves to another person. Flappers just did what they wanted and expressed them selves in unexceptional ways, according to modernists. Modernists did agree with the fact that women were caking their faces with makeup and wearing dresses barely above the knees that weren't tight around the waist, also the modernist women didn’t like that flappers were cutting their hair so short. The "bob" look or short hair above the shoulders was something a modernist had never done
before.