1920s Flappers

The boom of change during the 1920s was crucial in defining the era of party culture and the beginning of the modernist movement, a time of existential complexities and worry for the future. Such a time was also defined by the growing confidence and independence of women, as a result of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which granted women the suffrage they had been fighting for. Women had also been taking over more masculine duties and becoming more present in the workforce during WW1, as a result of more men being overseas to fight in the war. After the end of WW1, women were unwilling to so easily let go of the opportunities and independence they had experienced in the workforce, making them more prone to protesting and rebelling for more freedoms. This motivation and the passing of the 19th amendment combined to create a new generation of confident and more intrinsically secure women: flappers.

Flappers were women during the 20s who engaged in more rebellious and unusual activities and behavior. They had more extroverted personalities, and behaved more extreme and “outlandish” around men and in public. They attended parties, speakeasies, danced, drank, and smoked, things that were very societially unusual for women to partake in at the time. Their style also changed as a reflection of their independence. They wore shorter dresses, had shorter hair, and wore heavier makeup, embracing their youth and femininity in more visual ways. This change was revolutionary for the progress of women’s rights and freedoms, becoming an era reflected on as inspiration for the growing popularity of feminist movements and fights. While this era of women flappers can now be looked back on as important and crucial, they were heavily judged during the time for behaving as they did and going against societal standards. Their behavior was seen as inappropriate and vulgar by older generations, and seen as intimidating and even threatening by most men, as their growing unpredictability made it harder for them to be controlled and manipulated as they had been for centuries before. 

This changing dynamic of women also reflected the drastic changes of the time in general as a result of modernism and modernist writers, popularizing modernist ideas and even terms such as “flapper”. Another characteristic of women at the time that reflected modernism was the growing internal complexities and longings within them. They engaged in such “outlandish” behavior, not just as a display of independence and growing individuality, but also as a further form of protest. Women had learned from past experiences and victories that the only way they were able to be heard, or listened to at any extent, was by being extreme, or loud, or unique in their ways. Behaving as a flapper was another avenue for them to be listened to, and paid attention to in any form. This complexity of flappers wasn’t often seen, as they were usually labeled and viewed in a very shallow and negative lens, even as their behavior changed so many things for women from the 1920s and forward.

Flappers from the 20s can reflect, even now, the longings within women to be understood in any form, pressuring standards and the ever heavy loom of the patriarchy constantly a weight on the shoulders of women behaving in any way they can to be listened to in male-dominated societies and communities.

Works Cited

“Flappers in the Media.” Women & the American Story, https://wams.nyhistory.org/confidence-and-crises/jazz-age/flappers-in-media/. Accessed 13 January 2026.

“1920s Flapper and It Girls.” Sine Mcellin. Ian Drummond Vintage, https://iandrummondvintage.com/blogs/fashion-history/1920s-flappers-and-it-girls?srsltid=AfmBOor2LJNTeZ8miSYZBqWCsdUoSoJvNe_4rP45RqZqzOBDdk6lw4YA. Published 12 February 2023. Accessed 13 January 2026.