POP CULTURE FROM A SPIRITUAL POINT OF VIEW

BY Anonymous
Page 7

Page 1 What's Wrong With Me?       Page 2 The Steel Engraved Lady
Page 3 The Corset      Page 4 Illness as Fashion
Page 5 The Voluptuous Woman 1      Page 6 The Voluptuous Woman 2
YOU ARE HERE> Page 7 The Gibson Girl, The Flapper, and Today

THE GIBSON GIRL,
THE FLAPPER,
AND TODAY

THE GIBSON GIRL

The Gibson Girl had loosely piled hair pulled up on top of her head. She wore clothing that was not restrictive with bustles, layers, or corsets. She was pictured on a bicycle, roller skates, rowing. This may not sound like much by today's standards but these were radical images then.  Young women were not allowed to participate in  physical sports.  The Gibson girl wore little make up. She was an independent woman whose loose clothing signified her new independence.

THE FLAPPER
The Gibson Gril paved the way for the Flapper in the twenties. The Flapper image of woman was a startling contrast to every model that had come before. The Flapper wore short skirts, low cut blouses, and had bobbed hair. She represented woman's new freedom. She could drive a car, hold a job, take a boyfriend. She could fulfill her own destiny.

One of my favorite book titles from this era was published by Sword Publishers and written by influencial minister, John L. Rice, entitled, "Bossy Wives, Bobbed Hair, and Women Preachers."  The title alone makes the point of the battles that were raging culturally!

The Flapper image of woman hurt attitudes about women's roles in this country. There was a backlash to women's new found independence. The Flapper was just a little too loose and cavalier in her ways. In some ways, she took her new found freedom too far.  But there is no pulling back "once you've seen Paris." 

THE 1930s
The 1930s were not a great time for women. There was an ugly mood as depicted in advertising and magazine articles. The distrust and hatred of women can be witnessed in ads and media pieces that patronize, trivialize or dismiss women completely.

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THE WAR YEARS
     In the 1940s a strong and independent woman image took to the posters as women were called to do a "man's job," while the men went off to the war.

Clothes were functional and no-nonsense.  After all, there was a war to win, work to be done and women were waiting in lines to fill the jobs.  The government hid their findings on the astronomical productivity of women in every role during this era.  They didn't know what to make of the statistics - it didn't "gell" with the cultural beliefs about women and work.  (If you want to know where they are; they are buried in the basement of th