Really telling how much you’re reading into this. I wonder what your opinion would have been if you had not seen the editorial bit at the top, only the cartoon. I feel both you and OP are looking for offense when I feel there is none to be had.
Again, if the artist wanted to portray flappers as unattractive, a poor option for a marriageable young man, he could have easily depicted her as sickly and gross. If anything, it’s almost like he’s making fun of the demure, old fashioned girl. But that’s my modern sensibilities and attractions speaking. :)
BTW, flappers were a sort of 1920s women’s subculture. Google it and hit “pictures” and you’ll instantly get the look. They were young rebels, breaking out of the female mold they had been forced into. For example, women simply did not smoke before the 20s, strictly a male thing. Not sure if this was an American culture or if the Europeans shared, or likely, started it. From what I gather, flappers were pretty common, nothing weird at the time. 🤷
Yeah, i shouldve better clarified that I was speaking from my personal suspicions, not from a place of fact. As for the inclusion of the top context, i dont think it wouldve changed anything for me. My assumption that the comic is intended to cause harm is based on my assumption of the comics age, and my knowledge of how women were genrally seen as property back then. If it were a modern comic, I would be campaigning for the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. But given the history and the likelihood that the author will not be offended since theyre dead, im not particularly incentivised to find nuance from an era of blatant disgusting behavior.
I appreciate the info on flappers. I don’t know anything about them but a couple people were telling me more. With that context, that flappers wasnt a slur or demeaning, i could much more easily see the comic going either way.
Yes, women were treated a second-class citizens! American women couldn’t even vote until 1920. And I think that’s exactly where the artist is coming from, highlighting these changes without judgement. One more time, he could have made the flapper unattractive. (I’ll allow maybe my personal preferences are at play here. :) Long, thin, knee-high hose, cute headband, small breasts, independent, parties, sexy jewelry, yes please!) I feel you’re mixing Victorian, Gilded Age and Mauve Decade (much the same) women’s rights into the thing. The 1920s were a breakout point for women. The next advance would be women in the WWII workforce and the next being birth control in the 1960s.
Very radical times not only for women’s rights, but for all of us. Often commented that the first two decades of the 20th century was the Cambrian Explosion of mechanical items. Look at all the idiotic inventions of the time. Nuts. And we went from Kitty Hawk to dogfights in a mere 10-years!
We’d just come off our first taste of mechanized warfare, worst war in history yet lost more lives to the Spanish Flu and had just gone into Prohibition. Party hearty, but keep it on the down low.
I feel privileged as GenX. Much like 100-years ago, my generation straddled a radical divide in tech and social norms. Guess that’s the new normal though. 🤷🏻
Wow, did not know a lot of that, thanks. Yeah, i was intentionally avoiding discussing their attractiveness because thats purely objective. Not saying they did, but I could easily see the author drawing them this way because theyre saying the woman is promiscuous, which from my understanding was seen as about the worst thing a woman could be. For the record though, dayum, I want a lady who smokes a pipe. She looks crazy classy.
Really telling how much you’re reading into this. I wonder what your opinion would have been if you had not seen the editorial bit at the top, only the cartoon. I feel both you and OP are looking for offense when I feel there is none to be had.
Again, if the artist wanted to portray flappers as unattractive, a poor option for a marriageable young man, he could have easily depicted her as sickly and gross. If anything, it’s almost like he’s making fun of the demure, old fashioned girl. But that’s my modern sensibilities and attractions speaking. :)
BTW, flappers were a sort of 1920s women’s subculture. Google it and hit “pictures” and you’ll instantly get the look. They were young rebels, breaking out of the female mold they had been forced into. For example, women simply did not smoke before the 20s, strictly a male thing. Not sure if this was an American culture or if the Europeans shared, or likely, started it. From what I gather, flappers were pretty common, nothing weird at the time. 🤷
Yeah, i shouldve better clarified that I was speaking from my personal suspicions, not from a place of fact. As for the inclusion of the top context, i dont think it wouldve changed anything for me. My assumption that the comic is intended to cause harm is based on my assumption of the comics age, and my knowledge of how women were genrally seen as property back then. If it were a modern comic, I would be campaigning for the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. But given the history and the likelihood that the author will not be offended since theyre dead, im not particularly incentivised to find nuance from an era of blatant disgusting behavior.
I appreciate the info on flappers. I don’t know anything about them but a couple people were telling me more. With that context, that flappers wasnt a slur or demeaning, i could much more easily see the comic going either way.
Yes, women were treated a second-class citizens! American women couldn’t even vote until 1920. And I think that’s exactly where the artist is coming from, highlighting these changes without judgement. One more time, he could have made the flapper unattractive. (I’ll allow maybe my personal preferences are at play here. :) Long, thin, knee-high hose, cute headband, small breasts, independent, parties, sexy jewelry, yes please!) I feel you’re mixing Victorian, Gilded Age and Mauve Decade (much the same) women’s rights into the thing. The 1920s were a breakout point for women. The next advance would be women in the WWII workforce and the next being birth control in the 1960s.
Very radical times not only for women’s rights, but for all of us. Often commented that the first two decades of the 20th century was the Cambrian Explosion of mechanical items. Look at all the idiotic inventions of the time. Nuts. And we went from Kitty Hawk to dogfights in a mere 10-years!
We’d just come off our first taste of mechanized warfare, worst war in history yet lost more lives to the Spanish Flu and had just gone into Prohibition. Party hearty, but keep it on the down low.
I feel privileged as GenX. Much like 100-years ago, my generation straddled a radical divide in tech and social norms. Guess that’s the new normal though. 🤷🏻
Wow, did not know a lot of that, thanks. Yeah, i was intentionally avoiding discussing their attractiveness because thats purely objective. Not saying they did, but I could easily see the author drawing them this way because theyre saying the woman is promiscuous, which from my understanding was seen as about the worst thing a woman could be. For the record though, dayum, I want a lady who smokes a pipe. She looks crazy classy.