Flappers and the New American Woman
Who was the flapper, and who was the New American Woman? They weren?t specific individuals, but rather symbols that defined women in the early decades of the twentieth century. After the country had celebrated the end of World War I in 1918, the Flapper shocked society by flagrantly defying the traditional passive and gentile image of femininity. She danced the Charleston, doing so with bared knees, bobbed hair?and without a corset! The New American Woman also danced?though to a more sedate tune. She represented Mrs. Consumer, more aware of her decision-making ability and her purchasing power than her mother had ever been. And she was, for the first time ever, a fully enfranchised citizen wh