I'm still not really sure exactly what I want to focus on for my research paper, but I know I am most interested in women's issues, probably between the 1850s-1930s (I know, it's a pretty wide-open time frame). After some research, I have a few general ideas:
1) The spread of the ideas of birth control in the South in the 1860s-1870s - how birth control methods spread (word of mouth, pamphlets)
2) An exploration of sexuality of the 1920s flappers - what influenced it? (lack of suitors because of the large amount of deaths of men their age in WWI?) Were they as promiscuous as their parents and later generations believe - was it mostly about image and fun? How big of a factor was sex? And did they pave the way for future generations of sexually open women? My big question here is, how did girls who were flappers in their late teens and early twenties lead to the image of the perfect, chaste housewife of the 40s and 50s? Was it a backlash to this openness, or did they calm down? (This one clearly needs a lot of work and definition - these are all just questions I have at this point, and I think I need to pick one).
3) Sexuality of the antebellum Southern Belle - how realistic? Think: Scarlett O'Hara - she was married three times, clearly had sexual experience, and used her sexuality openly. Was this purely cinematic drama, or did it have a basis in truth? Was expression of female sexuality at all accepted in the white Southern upper class?
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Hey Jenni,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger I read a book called "Cheaper By the Dozen," unrelated to the recent film, an autobiograpy from the turn of the twentieth century about a family of 12. At one point in the book, a woman traveling and promoting birth control arrives at the house and speaks animatedly about women's rights to the mother, until she discovers some time later that she is calling on her a bit too late to promote birth control. It's a little later than your time frame, but your first research topic made me think of it. While I've also read and enjoyed "Gone With the Wind" and think I'd personally most enjoy reading a paper on your last topic since these are questions I don't know any answers to, I think your second topic would also be very interesting, considering the intervening Depression and War and their significant influences on the women and housewives flappers became.
Hi, Jenni,
ReplyDeleteI really like your first topic!
Your second topic is also interesting, but you could probably stand to narrow it down. Also, what kind of sources will you be working with? Memoirs? Census information?
I would also ask the same question of your third topic--what kinds of sources would you use, and how would you use them?
Jenni-
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas so far. The first topic is engaging, but I'd want to know why you picked that time period
Second topic is really cool - I like that you pointed out that many of those "flappers" became the '40s and '50s housewives later in life. Perhaps you could draw on World War II and how it reshaped women's roles in America, and possibly how that changed their "wild ways"
Third topic has potential, especially because many people like to believe that a trace of the Southern Belle still survives in southern girls today. Maybe you could compare and contrast the two eras to see if there ever was true evidence of such propriety and refinement
Jenni--
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna talk about number 2 just because I find it the most interesting but the other two topics regarding women and sexuality in the South are great ideas. As far as the flappers of the 1920s go, I think it's a very interesting topic to discuss what happened between 1920 and 1950 that caused such a radical shift in women's behavior. If you so desired you could argue some sort of waxing/waning thesis and go from the flappers of the 1920s, the housewives of the 1950s, the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the conservative/order movement of the 70s/80s. Major events such as WWII and the Great Depression can't be overlooked but you could argue the social causes and conditions that lead to such dramatic shifts back and forth throughout the 20th century US. (You could also talk about the temperance movement and the social conservative movement that pre-dated the flappers of the 1920s as well).
Wow, I think a lot could be done with these topics. In particular, the second topic could be explored through a variety of different cultural, social, or gendered perspectives. You could really make a great paper out of exploring the transformation from flapper to chaste WWII housewife and figuring out why that occured.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenni,
ReplyDeleteYour idea about how the idea and practice of birth control was spread around the south made me think of this article about breast cancer awareness being spread in (predominately African American) beauty salons and supermarkets:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1382099
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/03/nyregion/getting-out-the-message-on-breast-cancer.html
Looking at both women-based networks and unconventional methods of spreading information through communities may be a good starting point. I'd be really curious to read about how this happened in the South in particular. What made you choose to look at the South, by the way? Maybe you could even compare and contrast the spread of these ideas in southern versus northern cities?
--Sylvie