{"id":1678,"date":"2019-08-01T08:55:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T08:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/?page_id=1678"},"modified":"2019-08-01T08:56:29","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T08:56:29","slug":"ellen-welles-page-a-flappers-appeal-to-parents-1922","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/22-the-new-era\/ellen-welles-page-a-flappers-appeal-to-parents-1922\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Welles Page, \u201cA Flapper\u2019s Appeal to Parents\u201d (1922)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\n1922, \u201cthe Flapper\u201d had become a full-blown cultural phenomenon. In the\nfollowing article, Ellen Welles Page, a self-described \u201csemi-flapper,\u201d attempted\nto explain the appeal of the flapper and pled with America\u2019s mothers and\nfathers not to reflexively judge their flapper daughters. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If one judges by appearances, I suppose I am a\nflapper. I am within the age limit. I wear bobbed hair, the badge of\nflapperhood. (And, oh, what a comfort it is!). I powder my nose. I wear fringed\nskirts and bright-colored sweaters, and scarfs, and waists with Peter Pan\ncollars, and low-heeled \u201cfinale hopper\u201d shoes. I adore to dance. I spend a\nlarge amount of time in automobiles. I attend hops, and proms, and ball-games,\nand crew races, and other affairs at men\u2019s colleges. But none the less some of\nthe most thoroughbred superflappers might blush to claim sistership or even\nremote relationship with such as I. I don\u2019t use rouge, or lipstick, or pluck my\neyebrows. I don\u2019t smoke (I\u2019ve tried it, and don\u2019t like it), or drink, or tell \u201cpeppy\nstories.\u201d I don\u2019t pet. And, most unpardonable infringement of all the rules and\nregulations of Flapperdom, I haven\u2019t a line! But then–there are many degrees\nof flapper. There is the semi-flapper; the flapper; the superflapper. Each of\nthese three main general divisions has its degrees of variation. I might\npossibly be placed somewhere in the middle of the first class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to beg all you parents, and grandparents, and\nfriends, and teachers, and preachers–you who constitute the \u201colder generation\u201d–to\noverlook our shortcomings, at least for the present, and to appreciate our\nvirtues. I wonder if it ever occurred to any of you that it required brains to\nbecome and remain a successful flapper? Indeed it does! It requires an enormous\namount of cleverness and energy to keep going at the proper pace. It requires\nself-knowledge and self-analysis. We must know our capabilities and limitations.\nWe must be constantly on the alert. Attainment of flapperhood is a big and serious\nundertaking! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrains?\u201d you repeat, skeptically. \u201cThen why aren\u2019t\nthey used to better advantage?\u201d That is exactly it! And do you know who is\nlargely responsible for all this energy being spent in the wrong directions? You!\nYou parents, and grandparents, and friends, and teachers, and preachers–all of\nyou! \u201cThe war!\u201d you cry. \u201cIt is the effect of the war!\u201d And then you blame\nprohibition. Yes! Yet it is you who set the example there! But this is my\npoint: Instead of helping us work out our problems with constructive,\nsympathetic thinking and acting, you have muddled them for us more hopelessly\nwith destructive public condemnation and denunciation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think back to the time when you were struggling\nthrough the teens. Remember how spontaneous and deep were the joys, how serious\nand penetrating the sorrows. Most of us, under the present system of modern\neducation, are further advanced and more thoroughly developed mentally, physically,\nand vocationally than were our parents at our age. We hold the infinite possibilities\nof the myriads of new inventions within our grasp. We have learned to take for\ngranted conveniences, and many luxuries, which not so many years ago were as\nyet undreamed of. We are in touch with the whole universe. We have a tremendous\nproblem on our hands. You must help us. Give us confidence–not distrust. Give\nus practical aid and advice–not criticism. Praise us when praise is merited.\nBe patient and understanding when we make mistakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are the Younger Generation. The war tore away our\nspiritual foundations and challenged our faith. We are struggling to regain our\nequilibrium. The times have made us older and more experienced than you were at\nour age. It must be so with each succeeding generation if it is to keep pace\nwith the rapidly advancing and mighty tide of civilization. Help us to put our\nknowledge to the best advantage. Work with us! That is the way! Outlets for\nthis surplus knowledge and energy must be opened. Give us a helping hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth has many disillusionments. Spiritual forces begin\nto be felt. The emotions are frequently in a state of upheaval, struggling with\none another for supremacy. And Youth does not understand. There is no one to\nturn to–no one but the rest of Youth, which is as perplexed and troubled with\nits problems as ourselves. Everywhere we read and hear the criticism and\ndistrust of older people toward us. It forms an insurmountable barrier between\nus. How can we turn to them? In every person there is a desire, an innate\nlonging, toward some special goal or achievement. Each of us has his place to\nfill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 It is up to you who have the supervision of us of\nless ripe experience to guide us sympathetically, and to help us find, encourage,\nand develop our special abilities and talents. Study us. Make us realize that\nyou respect us as fellow human beings, that you have confidence in us, and,\nabove all, that you expect us to live up to the highest ideals, and to the best\nthat is in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Ellen Welles Page, \u201cA Flapper\u2019s Appeal to Parents,\u201d Outlook<\/em>, December 6, 1922, p. 607. Available\nvia Google Books (https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=jb9OAQAAMAAJ<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By 1922, \u201cthe Flapper\u201d had become a full-blown cultural phenomenon. In the following article, Ellen Welles Page, a self-described \u201csemi-flapper,\u201d attempted to explain the appeal of the flapper and pled with America\u2019s mothers and fathers not to reflexively judge their flapper daughters. If one judges by appearances, I suppose I am a flapper. I am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":813,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1678","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1680,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1678\/revisions\/1680"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}