Learn English – How did ‘flapper’ evolve from a derogatory term into a cultural identity

etymologyhistorical-changepejorative-language

The word "flapper," in popular culture, is most often associated with young, progressive, unconventional women of the 1920's in the U.S.

According to both the OED and Green's Dictionary of Slang, the word "flapper" appears to have been in its earliest form a derogatory reference. In fact, the earliest meaning of the word with regard to young women was apparently "a teenage prostitute."

Per OED:

1893 J. S. Farmer Slang Flapper..(3) A very young prostitute.

GDoS also offers an earlier definition related to prostitution. The citations appear to suggest that the earliest derogatory uses of the term were British.

Yet by at least 1920 (and apparently earlier), the term seemed to have evolved into a cultural identity embraced by the "flappers" themselves, referring to young adults as opposed to children.

According to Billie Melman's Women and the Popular Imagination in the Twenties: Flappers and Nymphs (1988), two early meanings arose around the same time, one referring generally to "sexually innocent youth," and another referring to very young prostitutes.

Around 1870 'flapper' acquired two novel meanings. It came to signify a female adolescent on the eve of her début in society, recognisable by the mane flapping down her back. The image this particular usage conveys is one of indecorous and sexually innocent youth…

At about the same time 'flapper' had come to signify a child prostitute – 'A very young girl trained to vice' (1899), 'a very young prostitute' (1893) – and, occasionally, the male sexual organ. The two usages, the one celebrating sexual innocense, the other vice and deviance, are closer than they first appear to be…

The simultaneous emergence of the two meanings reflects the ambivalent attitude of the Victorians towards feminine youth and sexuality… On the one hand, the image of the socially segregated girl was one of perfect purity and chastity, the ideal of desexualised womanhood. On the other hand, this very image epitomised illicit sexuality in one of its most sinister forms: a thriving trade in child prostitution…

After the First World War… it came to mean not so much an immoral young girl as, more characteristically, a disfranchised adult (i.e. a young woman past her twenty-first birthday).

Questions

Is it true that the early contradictory meanings mentioned by Melman arose simultaneously? If so, did the more well-known meaning referring to women of the 1920s in the U.S. derive from one or the other of these early meanings, and how did the change take place?

Best Answer

I think that flapper to refer to a prostitute was always only ever a minor, indirect or euphemistic use of the word.

Here are a few articles in Australian newspapers for 1903-17 which clearly use flapper to mean a fashionable, fun-loving young woman with no hint of prostitution. The term seems to be only mildly derogatory with an implication of shallowness.

In 1903 the “Gossip for Women” column tells us:

To-morrow (Thursday) about 24 "flappers" are giving a dance at the Paddington Town Hall. The name, I may mention, that has surrounded this festivity hails from the fact that the youthful hostesses all still claim the charms of "hair down." Under 17 is, I believe, the age that marks the flapper and permits the maiden to skip and jump (should she so desire) without any sudden interference from Mrs. Grundy. Lucky flapper ! The dance in question promises to be delightful, and Rita's excitement at her being included — in spite of her looks resting peace fully on ton of her head — is quite cheerful to witness.

In 1910 an article titled “The Age of Marriage – Too Old at Twenty” says”

Nowadays a girl of twenty is considered only just grown up, and, in fact, has only just got over the indignity of being called a "flapper." and at thirty a man is absurdly young …

A 1915 article about a school pantomime says:

** PANTOMIME CHILDREN ATTEND SCHOOL** Mr. Win. Anderson's "Sinbad the Sailor" Pantomime Company has amongst its members four juveniles whose ages range from 12 to 14, and their State school education is not impaired. Mr. Fanning, the manager, has what might be termed travelling transfers for them and at each town visited he sees that they attend a school during their stay. Yesterday morning Mr. Fanning escorted them to the Flinders School. Most of the '"flappers'' who form the unusually joyous ballet are a year or two above school age.

A 1917 sewing article says:

** A SIMPLE FROCK FOR THE SCHOOL GIRL. -- PRETTY AND PRACTICAL** The flapper of the family will probably want, or at any rate insistently demand, a new frock of some sort or other for holiday wear. Now I would suggest that a really charming frock might be made at home for a very modest sum […]

A 1917 article titled “Women Magistrates” is more critical of flappers but clearly makes a distinction between them and prostitutes:

[...] Another charge, on which quite a number of young, girls are arrested weekly is that of soliciting. Here, I maintain, that a man is Incapable of judging; in nine cases out of 10. The policeman' sees a flapper go up to a Tommy and ask him. "What are you doing this evening?" He comes to the conclusion that she is accosting him for immoral reasons, and he acts as duty bids him. More often than, not he is wrong. You will find that tho temptation thrown on young women from the time they are flappers is enormous. They are light-hearted, asking for excitement; they are non-moral, and that is the result of the social conditions of the present day. They are determined to have a good time at all costs. And so the girl who may merely want to be taken, to a picture palace, or who may have succumbed to the glamor of khaki, is classed together with the professional loose woman. [...]

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