1920s Courtship Essay

Masculinity has changed and evolved since the beginning of human creation. Males have had to adhere to the social norms of their time to survive without undue persecution. In the beginning of the 19th century, there was a shift in the way men could attain manhood. It was no longer easy for a man to enter into manhood with straightforward expectations and rituals. The state of manhood became difficult to obtain because of its precarious nature. During the same period, the industrial revolution was in full bloom giving birth to mass information outlets like newspapers, magazines, and advertisement: media. This set a prevailing state where boys and men alike could gain material on how to become or be men

Although there were many changes in the features of marriage and courtship in the 1920s, many of the elements of courtship and marriage have remained constant. The changes that occurred are still evident in society today. The

     Traditional Dating has changed over the years. In my generation the girls can ask the guys, there is no telling where they might go on a date, or they might just hang out at home, which did not happen as much 25 years ago. My generation's moral values are changing too: sex on the first date happens more frequently now. Many Years ago a guy would go pick the girl up at her house, was introduced to her parents and have a talk with them before taking their

With advances in technologies and the development of college and night life, more young people were spending more time together unsupervised. These changes created a sexual revolution in people dated several partners at a time and participated in “petting.” The invention of the automobile allowed for young people to travel outside the family sitting room, even young women learned to drive. Electric lights permitted for young adults to stay out later into the night and created activities to enjoy, such as the theater and night clubs. These developments in the dating culture strayed from the prior Victorian teachings of how ladies should behave with boys. The “new” woman expected to be treated on these dates and that meant that she needed to allow “petting.” Petting consisted of cuddling, kissing, and even foundling. This behavior led older women to believe that their daughters were partaking in premarital sex, Joshua Zeitz disputes this in his book, Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern. He claims that the percentage of women who were virgins when they were married only varied between the years of 1910 to 1929 by 3%. This shows that even though young women in the 20s were engaged in “petting,” they were not sexually

After World War I ended in 1918, the United States became a world superpower with a thriving economy. The 1920s was a time of prosperity, symbolized by technological advances, consumerism, and leisure. Along with this affluence, came a movement towards modern values, and as people migrated to large northern cities, these modern values became concentrated in urban areas. As a result, an enormous cultural shift took place that greatly altered the lives of Americans, including women. Women experienced significant political, social, and cultural change beginning in the 1920s, a decade which came to be known as the “Roaring Twenties.”

Dating back to the early 1900’s and all the way through to the present, romantic relationships have been viewed differently. From strict unwritten dating regulations to not having regulations at all, recent generations have become more liberated in making their own decisions. The progressing times have made us become a more accepting society and have caused a decrease in the strong practice of religion and class. Even though differences such as religion and class in relationships were more than an issue they were not always a complete deterrence.

At the forefront of the argument is the societal ideology of the American people during the era, most of whom were trapped in a traditionalist mind-set, one that required them to disregard generations of social norms, which had been subconsciously spoon-fed to them through media advertisements such as billboards and magazines most notably Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Journal, that had set a psychologically restrictive standard about what was acceptable. Following the baby boom of the 1960’s with the birth of a massive seventy-six million children, the American people were clearly in a mind-set of traditional family

Imagine during the 1920s, that a relationship was like a fight between a Pit Bull and a Yorkie. The Pitbull represents the men in the relationship because they are bigger in size and more aggressive. On the other hand the Yorkie is delicate, and innocent which represents the women in the relationship because they have no choice but to obey the “bigger” person due to the superiority they think they have. Research shows that “Pit Bulls … attack frequently and do major damage almost every time... When they need to give a warning it is usually a full-fledged relentless attack. That is the difference between Pit Bulls and other dogs. Other dogs don't feel the need to seriously maul someone to get their point across, Pit Bulls do,” (Pit Bull Owners

Before the 20s, women were expected to act and dress appropriately, but during this time, many women began to cut their hair, show more skin, and the freedom to smoke and drink in order to gain equal status with men. Before World War I, men courted women in order to marry her, but during the 20s, dating became more common amongst

More women began to enroll in college and sought employment outside the home. Fashion trends began to change and the well-dressed, stylish woman of the 1920s sported short hair, knee-length dresses worn with stockings, and lipstick. It became socially acceptable for women to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol at cocktail parties, behaviors previously reserved for men or women of questionable morals. Dancing among respectable women became provocative and sexual. As relationships between men and women became more casual, premarital sex and adultery became more common among well-educated women (textbook page 561). Conservative Americans were outraged at this decline in moral values and placed a large part of the blame on the media. Books, magazines, music and movies exposed America’s youth to new ideas about sexuality and validated their pursuit of pleasure. Those who held to traditional, conservative values were unable to constrain this modern

The 1950’s were cookie cutter; there was usually a working father, a homemaker mother, and a couple of kids. Although women were working and had jobs in the 1950’s, after WWII many women still stayed home being a house wife if the husband’s income could afford it. If women had jobs, and the job was unnecessary they were considered selfish. Having a husband at this time was more important than having a job or a degree. Marriage in the 1950’s was highly based around religion. Pre-marital sex was considered unacceptable, and women were married at ages as low as nineteen (People & Events, 1).

In past years, women were viewed as property. Women weren’t meant to make their own decisions including those of dating and marriage. In fact, families would arrange marriages for their daughters

The first few chapters discuss in depth both the general rules for mate selection and the differences in mate selection and varying preferences for male and female genders. As explained in the intro the author theorizes that the current behavior of humans in relation to mating behavior can be linked to our evolutionary past. He references Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution and his idea of natural selection, which is the the process through which organisms adapt to their environment and in doing so tend to

In the 1800s, marriage was arranged based on the suitors’ wealth and social status; Jane Austen employs Aristotelian ethics to demonstrate the strengths of

By the 1960s, the sexual revolution dramatically changed the dating environment, and for many, the goal of courtship was no longer marriage. Cohabitation was a popular choice, however, during the mid-1980s, this notion of free love began to erode as concerns over the spread of HIV became more prominent. This in turn, lead to a greater emphasis on monogomy.