When we think of female empowerment, the first thought that crosses our mind is the sixties, when the second wave feminism shook up the entire world. But in truth, the twentieth century had an earlier female revolution that is sometimes forgotten: The Flappers.
In the twenties, female suffrage was finally legal across the entire United States. Young women ditched the corsets, cut their hair into bobs, smoked, partied all night, and expressed their sexuality freely. Despite prohibition being enacted under the belief that it would hinder violence and promote a more wholesome society, these women undermined authorities by going to Speakeasies. They loved Hollywood, dancing, and were pioneers of female freedom. They spoke their own language and didn’t care what society thought about them.
There is a story that in the early twenties a woman complained to a banking institution that one of their employees who her son would do business with was “illegally attractive.” Financial institutions such as banks and the National Reserve implemented a dress code to prevent having Flapper employees. They were only allowed to wear black, blue, and brown, and their hems were not supposed to be higher than 12 inches from the ground.
The Great Depression and subsequently the Second World War silenced these dreams over a more conventional idea of femininity. But forty years after the Flapper movement, the sexual revolution would continue with the work of a group of women that laughed, loved life, and enjoyed their youth in a way that had never occurred before.
Aside from their incredible story, we have to admit that these ladies had incredible style. So if you’re thinking of adding some color and design to a section of skin realty, take some inspiration from these tattoos of women from the twenties.
