2025-03-21 - Flappers, Flippers, Masculine Women, and Feminine Men
==================================================================

From an article about flappers in the Smithsonian Magazine:

> Unlike their mothers and grandmothers, flappers tended to go to
> high school and even college, and they devoured new books featuring
> confident, fun-loving adolescent heroines who hiked and camped and
> solved mysteries. Flappers biked, played golf and tennis, and
> strove to emulate the flat-chested and hipless physiques of the
> adolescent boys whose freedom and lack of domestic responsibilities
> they envied.
> ... a number of impressively talented women were flappers,
> including the novelist and screenwriter Anita Loos, the satirist
> Dorothy Parker and the entertainer Josephine Baker, who went on to
> become a leading civil rights activist.

From: <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/
flappers-took-country-storm-ever-go-away-180964412/>

Fascinating!  I read the wikipedia article on flappers, and queried
mainstream search engines.  I found zilch, nothing, nada about
flapper reading habits, reading lists, authors, etc.  I love finding
whole new categories of literature that the Internet doesn't seem to
know about yet.  Expanding my search to "Jazz Age", "tomboy", and
1920s, i got a few hits, listed below.

Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald
<gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/4/3/6/4368>

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
<gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/6/6/8/2/66829>

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
<gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/6/4/3/1/64317>

The Plastic Age by Percy Marks
<gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/1/6/5/3/16532>

Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald
<gopher://gopher.pglaf.org/1/6/6/9/6695>

The same article had an excerpt from a song about gender.

Masculine Women, Feminine Men (1926)
------------------------------------

by Edgar Leslie & James V. Monaco

   Hey Hey women are going mad, today
   Hey Hey fellers are just as bad, I'll say
   Go anywhere, just stand and stare
   You'll say they're bugs when you look at the clothes they wear

   Masculine Women Feminine Men
   which is the rooster which is the hen
   It's hard to tell 'em apart today
   And SAY...
   Sister is busy learning to shave
   Brother just loves his permanent wave
   It's hard to tell 'em apart today

   HEY HEY
   Girls were girls and boys were boys when i was a tot,
   Now we don't know who is who or even what's what
   Knickers and trousers baggy and wide,
   Nobody knows who's walking inside
   Those Masculine Women Feminine Men

   Masculine Women Feminine Men
   Which is the rooster which is the hen
   It's hard to tell 'em apart today
   And SAY...

   Auntie is smoking, rolling her own,
   Uncle is always buying cologne
   It's hard to tell 'em apart today
   HEY HEY

   You go and give your girl a kiss in the hall
   But instead you find you're kissing her brother Paul
   Mama's got a sweater up to her chin,
   Papa's got a girtle holding him in
   Those Masculine Women Feminine Men

   Stop, Look, Listen and you'll agree... with me
   Things are not what they used to be... you'll see
   You say hello to Uncle Joe,
   Then look again and you find it's your Aunti Flo

   Masculine Women Feminine Men
   Which is the rooster which is the hen
   It's hard to tell 'em apart today
   And SAY...

   Wifey is playing billiards and pool,
   Hubby is dressing kiddies for school
   It's hard to tell 'em apart today
   HEY HEY

   Ever since the Prince of Wales in dresses was seen,
   What does he intend to be the King or the Queen
   Grandmother buys those tailor-made clothes
   Grandfather tries to smell like a rose
   Those Masculine Women Feminine Men

Listen on archive.org
<gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/ia/
details/78_masculine-women-feminine-men-savoy-havaiians-band-leslie>

Queer Music Heritage has sheet music and other recordings
<https://queermusicheritage.com/MWFM.html>

See also:

Lost Girls: The Invention of the Flapper by Linda Simon
<https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/
lost-girls-the-invention-of-the-flapper>

Where All Good Flappers Go: Essential Stories of the Jazz Age
<https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/
review-where-all-good-flappers-go-by-various-authors/>


tags: article,gender,history,song

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