Amy T Peterson, Valerie Hewitt, Heather Vaughan, et al
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plans. The surge of weddings caused animosity from many Americans
who felt these young men were shunning their duty. They called these
weddings ‘ slacker marriages,’’ and laws were created that withdrew the
marriage exemption for men who had married after the selective law was
announced.
With so many fathers and husbands off fighting the war, families suf-
fered without their primary breadwinner. Numerous organizations and
personal pleas requested aid for servicemen’s families. This benevolence
continued after the war as many men were injured or killed.
SEXUALITY AND MORALITY
Margaret Sanger fought for the right of a woman to have birth control
information and to be able to make choices about her life. Although she
might have thought woman’s suffrage was a good goal, she spent more
time trying to educate women about their own bodies and sexuality.
Sanger collected the best information that was available at the time and
distributed it in a pamphlet entitled What Every Girl Should Know. She
managed to get some of the information published in radical newsletters
in New York City. Although this was ignored by most ‘ polite’’ people,
Sanger apparently caused too much of a stir when she announced that she
would publish information on venereal disease. The local authorities did
not arrest Sanger; they threatened the publications that printed and dis-
tributed her information. She then raised enough money to produce,
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publish, and mail her own newsletter. She was arrested for distributing
obscene literature. In 1918, she was convicted of violating obscenity laws
because she tried to disseminate birth control information in New York.
By 1914, teaching sex education became a frequent and controversial
topic. Some experiments were conducted in public schools. These
involved separating the sexes and explaining ‘ personal hygiene’’ to them.
Proponents lauded the success of these programs, but there were far more
opponents who railed against this candor in a society that was rooted in
suppressing desires.
Despite all of the activism to broaden opinions and knowledge about
sex, it continued to be socially acceptable in marriage only. For women,
this standard was absolute. For men, society often accepted a man’s need
to ‘ sow his oats.’’ By the first decades of the twentieth century, syphilis
had become a publicized problem. Women were urged to stop accepting
this double standard and men were encouraged to stop sleeping around,
but these campaigns had little effect on what people did.
White slavery was one of the most shocking sexual issues of the
1910s. This term referred to forced female prostitution. Sensationalized
stories of national vice rings abounded, outraging most Americans. In
1910, the Mann Act, also known as the White Slave Traffic Act, was
passed. It outlawed the transportation of women across state lines for
immoral purposes.
Masturbation was thought of as a nasty habit that should be eradi-
cated in both men and women. Self-help books encouraged their readers
to achieve an ideal of ‘ purity’ and listed numerous side effects of what it
often referred to as ‘ self-abuse.’’ Anyone who engaged in this habit could
suffer from a poor complexion, weakened energy, and even hairy palms.
To break the habit, people were advised to avoid sensational love stories
and focus on distractions.
Much of the women’s education in the late 1800s was genteel: needle-
work or the new science of home economics. By the 1910s, women were
getting educated in more academically rigorous topics. Slowly, young
women were beginning to believe that they had a right to an education.
More and more colleges were opening their doors to women. Of the
women who did not go to college, many of them postponed marriage and
engaged in some kind of work that they hoped would be helpful to the
less fortunate.
As these young women learned about the lives of poor women, they
began to believe that women should have more rights than their mothers
had. Sexuality and morality became topics for conversation and frequently
led to very animated conversations. As women were becoming more
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educated and in touch with the world outside their own, WWI began and
gave them opportunities to participate in a daily public life that they did
not have previously.
During the war, many young men were drafted or enlisted. Before
they were shipped out, many men visited brothels. Many American men
visited European prostitutes when they were not fighting, and venereal
diseases increased because of this practice. The government became con-
cerned because venereal disease was keeping many men from fighting the
war. The government responded by forcing an ethic of purity on its citi-
zens. This allowed the government to imprison or expel unwanted social
reformers. These government rules would continue after the war.
At the same time, with the men fighting a war across an ocean,
women had to start working at jobs that had only been considered ‘ man’s
work.’’ Women had to make their own decisions and lead their own lives.
Many marriages failed when men returned home after the war. The sol-
diers wanted their wives to resume the roles they had before the war, but
many women refused. The struggle between sexuality and morality for
women and men would lead to changes that would make the 1920s a
unique decade in American history.
GROWING UP IN AMERICA
The idea of schooling for children became more popular in the twentieth
century. Young girls would get more academic educations and were slowly
being allowed to attend college. Many women’s colleges were little more
than finishing schools, teaching women the finer points of etiquette or
the new science of home economics. There were a handful of colleges that
were preparing women to become physicians and lawyers. Initially, col-
lege-educated women had a difficult time finding respectable jobs, but as
the Progressive party advocated the idea of helping others, and, as war
decimated the number of men available for work, educating women
became more acceptable.
Girls who attended school learned the skills men thought they needed
to maintain a household and be a good wife and mother. If they had the
means to do so, girls would start a ‘ hope chest’ at an early age. They
would acquire some of the things that they were expected to bring with
them to a marriage, such as linens and cooking pots. Frequently, a girl
would be married to whichever young man her parents selected. Girls
were often married at an early age, sometimes even 14 or 15, and they
might find themselves married to a youth they had never met, but a youth
whose parents were known by her parents.
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The idea that children were different than adults was a concept that
gained strength around the turn of the century. The concept of ‘ ad
oles-
cence’’ did not emerge until the twentieth century. Until then, children were
simply considered small adults. They dressed like adults and were expected
to act maturely. If children seemed to develop differently, many people
believed that to be an indication that the parents were not appropriately
disciplining the child. Parents rarely considered if a child was developmen-
tally able to cope with a job or with marriage. Once married or employed,
childhood was over; adulthood and all its responsibilities had begun.
An increasing number of social activists began to take up the cause of
child workers. The political situation in Europe became a greater concern
to many Americans. When war was declared in 1917, many of the organi-
zations put their agendas on hold until the end of the war. They thought
that they would resume fighting for their principles after the war. No one
knew how much the war would change life for everyone, regardless of
age. Laws regarding child labor would not be seen until the 1930s.
T H E
1920S
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
It can be argued that the 1920s would be one of the most revolutionary
decades in human history. Just a few years before the start of the decade,
more people were transported across greater distances in a shorter period
of time than ever before in history. Women who only five years earlier
had been content to be wives and mothers, had gone to work and done
jobs formerly done only by men. People who were born at the beginning
of the century and who expected to grow up and die in their home com-
munities were moved from their homes to new areas, sometimes even
across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and then return to their homes.
Travel is said to change a person’s perspective, and the perspective for
many Americans had changed drastically by the beginning of the 1920s.
People were moving to urban areas. There they found new technology
and new opportunities. Medicine and technology were enabling the popu-
lation to live longer. Children were staying in school longer because they
were not needed in the workforce. Leisure time was increasing, and peo-
ple were finding new ways to spend that time. Although not everyone
could enjoy all of the cultural and financial opportunities, more and more
people were improving their lifestyles.
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131
The 1920s may have been ‘ wild and crazy’ for some, but many believe
that the image of the flapper was typical only of a relatively small group
of young people who had some money and lived in urban areas. People in
rural areas tended to become more fundamental in their beliefs, possibly
as a backlash of the social upheaval created during the Great War.
Regardless of the point of view, the 1920s are usually seen as a time of
social change for the family and the individual.
The ‘ war to end all wars’’ had an impact on most individuals living in
the United States. Almost everyone was involved in the war effort to
some extent. Many families lost friends and relatives in the war. Some of
the soldiers were affected by the mustard gas used in Europe and were
unable to resume the lives they had lived before the war. Many soldiers
and their wives wanted their lives to return to the way they had lived
before the war, but this was almost impossible for most people.
The suffrage amendment passed in 1920, allowing women to vote.
Attitudes had changed and women’s role had changed with it. Women
had worked in most jobs during the war. Some men expected that women
would be content to return to their roles as wives and mothers once the
soldiers returned home. Although this may have happened in some situa-
tions, many women would have to remain in the workforce because their
husbands, brothers, and fathers had died during the war or had become so
incapacitated that they were unable to be the major financial support of
the family. Other women, having tasted independence, would not return
to the lives they led before the war.
The relative independence that women had experienced during the
war taught them that they could manage on their own, without a man to
protect or care for them. They no longer were dependent on their parents
or husbands. Women started retaining control of the money they earned;
they did not automatically give it to their husbands or fathers. As the
roles of men and women began to change, the attitudes of marriage and
family changed as well.
Compared with modern equivalents, a greater number of young couples
were married during the twenties. Three of five people over the age of 15
were married, partly because of the widespread prosperity of the decade
(Kyvig 2002; Modell 1989). Location also played a factor in marriage age,
with rural marriages occurring at a younger age and urban marriages at a
slightly older age. Generally, however, women were actually spending more
time in the work world and on their own before committing to a marriage
(Israel 2002). Most men, however, got married after age 21.
Increasingly, young women believed that they did not have to be mar-
ried and have children by the time they were 20. Many young women
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THE INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY
delayed marriage and child rearing until they were in their late twenties
or even their thirties. Women realized that their individuality and roles
did not have to depend on the occupation or wealth of their husbands.
Culturally important marriages of the time included the 1922 nuptials
of Princess Mary and the Earl of Harewood, which because of technolog-
ical advances became the first royal wedding to be broadcast in the United
Kingdom. Consequently, ‘‘the wedding game,’’ in which two children
dressed up and pretended to get married, became popular both in the
United Kingdom and in the United States (Yapp 1998).
Americans witnessed a change in family behavior by the 1920s. In the
late Victorian period, families were hierarchical, with the father as the
leader. The family ideal espoused in the 1920s was the ‘ compassionate
family.’’ This ideal was friendly and affectionate, and it included an em-
phasis on nurturing children. This ideal became more attainable as the
size of the American family decreased.
The writings of Freud and other psychiatrists and psychologists
became popular, as did Margaret Sanger and other advocates of birth con-
trol. Sex became an acceptable topic of conversation. People would discuss
the scientific reasons for other people’s behavior and support their opin-
ions with research and academic literature. Usually, people could find
something in print that would allow everyone to validate his or her own
personal belief.
For a few years, the birth rate in the United States declined to such a
low that the country was not reproducing itself. Women wanted to con-
trol their bodies and their pregnancies. At the beginning of the century,
few people knew about, or discussed, birth control. During the 1920s, in-
formation about it was more widespread, but not all
of the information
was factual. Advertisers catered to the misconceptions.
Pregnant women began to have a life outside the home. Before this
time, most women would be confined to the home once a pregnancy
became obvious. Although ready-to wear maternity clothes had been
available for about a decade, most women would not be seen in public if
they were obviously pregnant.
Pregnancy was causing less fear in women. Although children were
still dying of childhood diseases, the lower birth rate and increased age of
the mother allowed many women to deliver a healthy child. The advances
in medicine also meant that, for the first time, women could be given
drugs and be allowed to ‘ sleep through’ the entire delivery process.
Women no longer had to suffer the pain of childbirth. Although this
might have meant that women would be more eager to have children,
women began to want more control over the number of children and the
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133
intervals between children. Women began using birth control devices in
increasing numbers, although many people thought that was inappropri-
ate. Without the fear of pregnancy, many women began to enjoy sex.
The divorce rate began to climb. Women wanted more equality in
their relationships and would often leave a husband who did not, or could
not, take care of a family. Premarital sex became more common and
openly discussed. Many of the young men of the day, especially the more
affluent or more educated men, no longer believed that it was necessary
to marry a virgin. The fact that many young couples had sex before mar-
riage had one unexpected consequence: fewer men were visiting prosti-
tutes. This in turn helped lower the rate of sexually transmitted diseases,
but few people thought that the end result was worth the fact that young
people were engaging in sex outside of marriage (Elliot and Merrill
1934).
Women who did marry had lives that were similar yet different from
their mothers. Women still were responsible for the maintenance of the
home. Men were the breadwinners; women were responsible for the cook-
ing and cleaning and all the chores that had been considered as ‘ women’s
work.’’ What now changed was that most urban women had an assistant.
That assistant was called electricity.