An Essay On Flappers In The 1920's

Flappers in the 1920’s

During the 1920’s many young women began to use the new rights recently given to women, such as the right to vote. During this era a new sort of women appeared. Calling themselves flappers, they were often looked down upon by the older generations. Parents of these youth were confused about how their children became like this. Living sporadic lives, flappers dressed differently from other girls and had risky behavior. Flappers are quite different from the youth today but they are also similar in few ways.

Women had been fighting for years to gain the same rights men had. As more and more freedoms were being gained for women, they began to use these rights to the fullest. Flappers were born out of this. Women could

now experience things that they never could before. These young women were making their mark in society by showing their independence. They were trying to say that they are not the confined, passive women that they had to be in the past.
The older traditional Americans were not fond of flapper behavior. They did not see the flapper’s actions as an example of women’s freedoms but as immature behavior of the youth. The way the flappers acted was so different from how they traditionally viewed women and their perception of how women should behave. A flapper lifestyle would have seemed appalling to the more conservative Americans because that was just not how it was done in the past nor anything they had seen before. Parents also had a hard time understanding where their teen’s risky behavior came from.
A woman named Ellen Welles Page, a flapper herself, wrote an article to explain to parents why their teens were acting this way.

Page wanted parents to understand that the youth, primarily young women, are behaving this way because their parents disapprove of them and are not in a close relationship with them. She explains that the youth want their parents to accept them and have respect for them. Page wrote that they are turning away from their parents because of the distrust they are receiving. She felt that youth were trying to figure out who they are in relationship to others as well as themselves. They were not turning to their parents for help during this emotional time in their lives because of their parents disapproval of them. Page encouraged parents to befriend their children and guide them to the best of their

ability.
The fashion of the flappers is very different in comparison to today.

The flappers strived for a boyish figure whereas today young American women value more of a curvy figure. A flapper usually had short bobbed hair to go along with their boyish figure. Some girls have shorter hair today and it is slowly becoming popular for girls to shave part of their hair. The average woman today has long hair. Straight shift dresses and shorter knee length skirts were what a flapper would often wear. Today, girls usually wear pants and if they do wear a dress then it also goes to the knee or sometimes shorter. Both flappers and modern girls wear makeup. Flapper girls often put makeup on in public. On the contrary, women today usually will go into a bathroom to fix their makeup. Flappers flirted around with boys and went to many dances and parties. Today, women still flirt with boys but usually not as openly. They are also typically not the life of a party if they do attend one. Young American women still flaunt their independence and rights today as the flappers

did.
The flappers population grew in the 1920’s as women’s rights increased. The more traditional Americans did not approve of flappers and looked down on the lives they lived. Ellen Welles Page wrote an article to parents to help them connect with their rebellious youth. Flappers have some distinct similarities and differences. Both women wear makeup and flirt with boys. On the other hand, flappers prefered a slim boyish figure and modern young women like a more curvier figure. Flappers wore straight shift dresses and today girls often wear pants. The rise of the flapper has brought women to take charge of their rights and become more than the controlled persons they were forced to be in the past.