Editing Flapper (section)

== Evolution of the image ==
{{multiple image
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| image1    = Alicejoyce1926full crop.jpg
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| caption1  = Actress [[Alice Joyce]], 1926
| image2    = Clara Bow Brewster 1921.PNG
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| caption2  = [[Clara Bow]] in 1921, before she became a star
}}The first appearance of the flapper style{{Efn|The word itself was introduced earlier.<ref name="Graves 1907" /><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=New Brunswick Times|date=February 24, 1910|quote=And over in England, as I learned, they call a girl of about fifteen a "flapper."...}}{{full|date=April 2024|reason=several occurrences: missing title}}</ref>}} in the United States came from the popular 1920 [[Frances Marion]] film ''[[The Flapper]]'', starring [[Olive Thomas]].<ref name="olive">{{Cite web | url = http://www.assumption.edu/ahc/1920s/Olive%20Thomas/ | title = Olive Thomas | work = Memories of Olive | publisher = Assumption | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130412055632/http://www1.assumption.edu/ahc/1920s/Olive%20Thomas/ | archive-date = April 12, 2013 | df = mdy-all }}.</ref> Thomas starred in a similar role in 1917, though it was not until ''The Flapper'' that the term was used. In her final movies, she was seen as the flapper image.<ref>{{Cite web | editor-last = Long | editor-first = Bruce | url = http://www.public.asu.edu/~ialong/Taylor33.txt | title = Taylorology: A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor | publisher = Arizona State University}}.</ref> Other actresses, such as [[Clara Bow]], [[Louise Brooks]], [[Colleen Moore]] and [[Joan Crawford]] would soon build their careers on the same image, achieving great popularity.<ref name="olive" />

[[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] wrote of Crawford:<ref>quoted in Thomas, Pauline Weston (May 21, 2021). "Flapper Fashion 1920s Fashion History". ''[[Fashion-Era]]''. p.vii.</ref>{{blockquote|text=Joan Crawford is doubtless the best example of the flapper, the girl you see in smart night clubs, gowned to the apex of sophistication, toying iced glasses with a remote, faintly bitter expression, dancing deliciously, laughing a great deal, with wide, hurt eyes. Young things with a talent for living.}}

In the United States, popular contempt for [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] was a factor in the rise of the flapper. With legal saloons and cabarets closed, back alley [[Speakeasy|speakeasies]] became prolific and popular. This discrepancy between the law-abiding, religion-based [[temperance movement]] and the actual ubiquitous consumption of alcohol led to widespread disdain for authority. Flapper independence was also a response to the [[Gibson Girl]]s of the 1890s.{{Sfn | De Castelbajac | 1995 | p = 35}}<ref name=conor>Conor, Liz. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jWG2_Pt2Dw8C&pg=PA301 ''The Spectacular Modern Woman: Feminine Visibility in The 1920s''] 2004. p. 301</ref> Although that pre-war look does not resemble the flapper style, their independence may have led to the flapper wisecracking tenacity 30 years later.

Writers in the United States such as [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] and [[Anita Loos]] and illustrators such as [[Russell Patterson]], [[John Held Jr.]], [[Ethel Hays]] and [[Faith Burrows]] popularized the flapper look and lifestyle through their works, and flappers came to be seen as attractive, reckless, and independent. Among those who criticized the flapper craze was writer-critic [[Dorothy Parker]], who penned "Flappers: A Hate Song" to poke fun at the fad. In 1922, Secretary of Labor [[James J. Davis]] denounced the "flippancy of the cigarette smoking, cocktail-drinking flapper".{{Sfn|Zeitz|2007|p=6}} A Harvard psychologist reported that flappers had "the lowest degree of intelligence" and constituted "a hopeless problem for educators".{{Sfn|Zeitz|2007|p=6}}

Another writer, Lynne Frame, said in her book that a large number of scientists and health professionals have analyzed and reviewed the degree of femininity of flappers' appearance and behavior, given the "boyishness" of the flapper look and behavior. Some gynecologists gave the opinion that women were less "marriageable" if they were less "feminine", as the husband would be unhappy in his marriage. In Frame's book, she also wrote that the appearance of flappers, like the short hair and short dress, distracted attention from feminine curves to the legs and body. These attributes were not only a fashion trend but also the expression of a blurring of gender roles.<ref>Reinsch, O. (2013). [http://www.genderforum.org/issues/gender-and-consumerism/flapper-girls-feminism-and-consumer-society-in-the-1920 "Gender and Consumerism"]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''Gender Forum'' Retrieved April 26, 2016.</ref>

=== Image of youth ===
The flapper stands as one of the more enduring images of youth and new women in the 20th century and is viewed by modern-day Americans as something of a cultural heroine. However, back in the 1920s, many Americans regarded flappers as threatening to conventional society, representing a new moral order. Although most of them were the daughters of the middle class, they flouted middle-class values. Lots of women in the United States were drawn to the idea of being a flapper. There were rival organizations of flappers – the National Flapper Flock and the Royal Order of the Flapper.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dalzell|first=Tom|title=Flappers 2 Rappers|publisher=Dover Publications Inc.|year=2010|isbn=978-0-486-47587-5|location=Mineola, New York|pages=9}}</ref> Flappers shrugged off their chaperones, danced suggestively, and openly flirted with boys. "Flappers prized style over substance, novelty over tradition, and pleasure over virtue."<ref name="ultimatehistoryproject.com"/> Ruth Gillettes, a 1920s singer, had a song titled "Oh Say! Can I See You Tonight?" which expresses the new behavior of girls in the 1920s. Before the 1920s, for a woman to call a man to suggest a date would be impossible. However, in the 1920s, many girls seemed to play a leading role in relationships, actively asking boys out or even coming to their homes.<ref>Langley, S. (2006). ''Roaring '20s fashions: Deco''. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, p. 16</ref>