Betty Boop: the anniversary of her first debut
The 1920s were a decade of great changes, especially social ones. The real protagonists of this period were the young women who began to violate the social norms and sexual morality of those times. They refused to be subordinate to their husbands and felt very free and uninhibited, especially sexually. This is because, during the First World War, while the men were at the front in Europe, the women had found themselves at home alone, thus getting used to an independence they had never had before.
Many of these young women became so flappers, despite this figure was not frowned upon. The term flapper, in fact, finds its origins in the 1600s, during which it was used to define young prostitutes who are novice. Over time, and especially in the early 1900s, the term took on an increasingly less derogatory meaning, eventually defining all those very restless teenagers or young women who did not want to conform to the rules that society wanted to impose.
Twentieth century flappers were very bold and wore short dresses that left the knees uncovered - a real affront for the time, as women used to wear them ankle length. Many of them even cut their hair short, so as not to be considered girls to take home to introduce them to their parents.
