Student Example

Thesis & Outline

Topic: Women’s progressive movement during the roaring twenties.
Introduction: Women gained much during the 1920s. With the introduction of the “flappers”,
women progressed what it means to be a woman. Women began to reinvent themselves by taking
a stand for themselves, for better or worst. Although women began to take a stand, only certain
women managed to benefit from this change. Rural areas and older traditional women were not
as keen to adopt and accept women’s newfound freedom. Similarly, many Americans regarded
to flappers as “threating to society representing a new moral order.” (Flapper 2022)
Thesis: Flappers in many ways had an impact on women’s rights and shaped how society view
how women dressed, was portrayed in the media, and their traditional roles as housewives.
Topic Sentence 1: Flappers behaved and dressed as they wish during these times.
A. Support:
1. Flappers dressed differently than previous ages. They adopted a new fashion sense
such as short skirts, bobbed hair style, and painted lips. Many older and traditional
women viewed them as brazen.
2. Flappers and young women began to wear scandalous bathing suits, dresses, and
outfits. The media began to cast beautiful young women as actresses and portray them
in magazines.
B. Support:
1. Flappers were notorious for their behaviors. They would dance and party to live jazz
bands, smoke and partake in drinking which at the time was outlawed by the
prohibition act of 1920. Flappers embodied a rebellious and free-spirited woman.
2. Flappers would partake in sexual freedom which “shocked the Victorian morality of
their parents.” (History.com Editors, 2018)

Topic Sentence 2: Advertisers shaped, molded, and presented a representation of the “flapper” to
American society.
A. Support:
1. The media began to showcase to the masses how these new aged women behaved.
They amplified the flapper lifestyle by showing the glamorous and extravagant,
painting a narrative in which it is desirable. Further pushing for the sexualization of
women during this time.
2. Using magazines, movies, and television, the media was able to portray an
exaggeration of flapper culture thus causing the flappers to act as they were
represented in media.
B. Support:
1. Hollywood considered the flapper lifestyle and in turn had an influence on how they
should act. Hollywood began to create a new genre of film titled “flapper film”.
Sprouting famous actresses from the genre.
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2. Hollywood caused the rise of many famous flappers such as Colleen Moore, Clara
Bow, and Louise Brooks. Three of Hollywood’s most prominent actresses during the
era.

Topic Sentence 3: How American society viewed flappers and their reactions towards it.
A. Support:
1. Older and traditional women viewed flappers are irrational and brazen. Their views
towards flappers were an act of mis mortality to them.
2. Flapper women however viewed flappers as free, liberating, and as a stand of power
to women. It was a cultural war and flappers often advocated for women’s rights.
B. Support:
1. Although the cultural war that was being taken place towards Victorian women and
flappers was prevalent at the time. Women remained for the most parts in the
domestic home. During the World War, as American men left to join the conflict over
seas, the women entered the workplace and took care of the home.
2. However, the role of women changed from a traditional role to an empowering role
based on the merits of their duties during the war, as well as help from the free-
spirited flappers.
3. Without the women’s needed role for the war occurring while flappers were changing
societal perspectives on women. The advancement of women in the workplace and
society during this time would have been a less empowering role.
Conclusion: Flappers had an immense impact on how society decided to view women moving
forward. From the lavishly lifestyle of the flapper, the evolution of flappers from the media, and
women roles during the war, the empowerment of women left a powerful statement in its wake.
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References
Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, October 21). Flapper. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 21,
2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapper
History.com Editors, H. E. (2018, March 6). Flappers. History.com. Retrieved October
21, 2022, from https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/flappers