The Art Behind Designer Toys

Everyone loves to be entertained, toys are one of the purest forms of entertainment, especially for children. However, as children become adults they begin to see toys in a new perspective. The 1990’s introduced designer toys to the toy industry. The limited quantity of designer toys made/produced, showcasing that toys didn’t just have to be made for profit but for the love and the affection of the toy. The toys played with as children became collectibles and displayed in galleries. Woodrow Phoenix, wrote in his book: Plastic Culture “The real truth at the core of our fascination with toys: It’s about dreams and the desire to catch them in a piece of plastic.” The purpose of designer toys is to bring ideas and imaginations to life, from sketches to a tangible three-dimensional object. Designer Toys allow artists to create original objects that come from a personal sensibility, and focuses on artistic touch rather than the creation of amusement and merchandise.  

In Hong Kong around the mid 1990’s an illustrator  Michael Lau dramatically impacted the movement of designer toys. Bringing a whole new element of designer toys to the table. Michael Lau transformed hard-plastic action figures into heavily influenced pop culture figures. Lau would tear apart body parts of old G.I Joe and other mainstream figures.  Sculpting his own plastic custom heads, hands, and feet. Ripping apart these old toys was a form of appropriation, taking something and incorporating it to become something new and original, and made his own thats what makes his toy so beautiful. Arthur Lubow of The New York Times said in Cult Figures “Lau had created skateboarders, surfers and snowboarders, decked out in baggy shorts, camouflage jackets, tentlike sweatshirts and of-the-moment sneakers, adorned with chains, earrings and tattoos, their hair in dreadlocks or pressed beneath bright-colored caps.” to create a whole new group of characters, He called the “Gardeners” (characters that originated in his comic The Gardeners a year prior to his collection). Lau brought street culture and introduced it to the designer toys scene. Creating urban vinyl, a mixer of high end art and action figures design. Urban vinyl carried a graffiti style, which opened the door to the numerous amounts of topics, styles, and showed that appropriation was not stealing but a way artists could portray pop culture in toys.

Not all toys have to be made for childrens entertainment They can be made to be admired and loved for the craftsmanship. These toys are so different. Toys designed for children are made to educate, entertain, and promote young media. These type of toys are a direct result of media merchandising. Commercials are made to advertise these mass produced products. Which are then manufactured to be sold to the children across the world. Seeing all these television, film, comics, and videogames represented in toys, shows the lack of originality child toys have. The toys played with as children are replications of the media. There is no appropriation to make these toys unique. Paul Budnitz,Founder of Kidrobot, states in an interview with Skillshare “When we appropriate something we add to it, we change it and tweak it in a way that makes it a commentary. It doesn't have to be really specific, it doesn't have to be clear what we are talking about. But it somehow says something more.” Artist can take whatever they want whether its pop culture, history, what have you and manipulate it until its no longer stealing but appropriation. The problem with appropriation is taking things too literally it becomes just a replication of a product, much like children toys. The word product is what divides children toys from adult toys, children toys tend to be just products when adult toys represent an artistic culture.

When looking at a teddy bear holding a heart what is being conveyed is “cute”, designer toys have more meaning. They’re an art form and expression of creativity. These toys are meant not for play but for display. In  an interview by Skillshare Paul Budnitz’ says “When you’re children we really feel one thing at a time. If you spend time around kids, kids look to have like a cute toy and a happy toy. But really all their toys have one specific through line of emotion.” These types of toys don’t say much, when comparing these emotions to an artistic standpoint viewers don't see much of a message or idea. Designer toys differ from the so called action figures or stuffed animals. Adult toys/designer toys are made with the art sensibilities in mind, with a huge influence on sculpting and design. “When we get to adult toys and designer toys usually there are two to three things going on at the same time, that's because as we grow up as human beings we start to experience the world in more complex ways. We see the world in contradictions.” At first glance a teddy bear just says cute, but adding a contradicting theme to a cute teddy bear, like some blood and dark eyes makes the toy art. Because no longer is that bear just cute but it’s scary and dark. These two things being displayed in one object starts to play with the mind. “That sense of two things not quite fitting together is what makes designer toys art and not just another product.” found on a shelve.

A large factor of designer toys was the combination of graphic design, illustration and sculpting. Hence the word designer in designer toys. Contradictions actually play a major role in the overall design, that guide the direction of the colors, shape, and the general feel of the toy. If you look at Paul Budnitz’s Kidrobot, Dunny a blank bunny figure part of Budnitz’s D.I.Y figures. Notice that the head is cut at somewhat of an angle, making the back of the figure have a hunch alwaying the head to turn which gives the bunny figure a more menacing feel, more articulation, movement, and emotion are shown. Even with a blank toy that emotion comes through, the posture gives life creating more depth within that character.

The grand thing about designer toys is that its a medium that combines other forms of art, making it a very compelling and hands on art form. Michael Lau in an interview with Vinyl Pulse, says that “Through the development I transform from one role into another.  That’s rewarding because I don’t want to do just one thing but everything.  To be able to do each aspect of a character is much more satisfying.”  For Michael Lau to be able to merge multiple forms of art into on medium shows why what makes designer toys so unique and great. An artist to take graphic design, illustration, sculpting, painting and mold making and bring them together to form an art medium shows the world the impact that toys could have and reflect towards an individual. Showing that toys are simply a pleasure to just simply admire.

Designer toys have now become vastly popular in american art culture and continue to be collected and admired around the world. It is defined in the dictionary that toys are “an object for a child to play with.” But if we learned anything from this paper it’s that the dictionary got it wrong, toys are an art form specifically designer toys. That combined multiple art mediums, uses contradictions and appropriation to greater backup its artistic standpoint. The truth is that toys no longer have one single purpose. Best put it  Budnitz’s says “What draws a person to an object is not always an idea — it might just be an intense love for the material reality of the object itself.” Designer toys brought out the deeper meaning behind plastic toys allowing its audience to see them more than just childs play.

Bibliography

Video:
Budnitz, Paul. Paul Budnitz' Beautiful Plastic: Training Your Eye. SkillShare. Published March 18, 2014.Youtube.com. January 27th, 2014

To Paul Budnitz designer toys are truly an art form. Budnitz says that juxtaposition and appropriation are recurring themes from 20th century art movements, that have resonated in almost all designer toys. If you look at a teddy bear Budnitz says all that toy really says is one thing which is...cute. When you look at a kids toy, if it’s a action figure, stuffed bear or whatever, you can look at each of those toys individually and they usually only have one throughline of emotion, whether it's happy, sad, angry, etc. Designer toys usually have 2-3 emotions going on at the same time. Using juxtaposing characteristics and contradicting emotions is what makes designer toys art. Budnitz believes that it is because of these themes that divides childrens toys from designer toys. “It makes designer toys art and not just another product.”

Book:

Budnitz, Paul. I Am Plastic, Too: The next Generation of Designer Toys. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print.

Website:

Curtis, Nick. Designer Toys 101: What are Designer Toys?. SpankyStokes. May 29th, 2012. Published Article.

Website:

Curtis, Nick. Designer Toys 101: What makes Designer Toys art while normal toys aren't?. SpankyStokes. August 14th, 2012. Published Article.

Website:

Heller, Steven. "Toy Story." The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Jan. 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.

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Jack."Vinyl Pulse: Michael Lau Ten Years, Ten Questions." Vinyl Pulse: Michael Lau Ten Years, Ten Questions. N.p., n.d. 21 Sep. 2009.Web. 20 Feb. 2015.

WebSite:

Lubow, Arthur. Cult Figures. New York Times: Magazine. Aug. 29th, 2004. Published Article.

Lois Mailou Jones, a pioneer for African American women, made a path for women  and African Americans alike so that they would be accepted in the art world, changing the art scene forever and making signature styles that still influence the modern day artist. Many would consider her one of the first influential characters in the Harlem Renaissance by becoming known throughout the world for her art pieces. In this paper it will explore the important events throughout her childhood, early adult life, and career that helped her become the artist she was. Her parents encouraged her follow her passion leading her continue in art , which lead to art school learning the techniques and skills she needed to be an artist, her husband , and the many travels she took throughout the world changing the way she made art over time by the exploration of her heritage and cultures that she became surrounded with. The things that Jones came into contact over her travels and the people she met influenced the style of her work making her one of the most successful artist of her time.

Jones was born in 1905 she lived in Boston Massachusetts with her two parents Thomas Vreeland Jones, and Carolyn Jones. At a young age, her parents realized that she had a passion for art and encouraged her to continue and follow her dreams. Even though during this time period women ,along with African Americans, faced a lot of racism and sexism her parents still continued encouraging her to paint. Her family’s summers were spent on Martha’s Vineyard where she spent a lot of her childhood painting. "Every summer of my childhood, my mother took me and my brother to Martha’s Vineyard Island. I began painting in watercolor which even today is my pet medium.”- (Bernard). Even as she got older she looked back to the vineyard as a place to visit often and find inspiration. Jones became friends with a Harlem Renaissance novelist, Dorothy West, and a Pan-Africanist sculptor, Meta Warrick Fuller from staying at the vineyard, they both supported her dream to be an artist as they were artist as well and they understood the struggles of racism in the United States . These people were also faced with similar stigmas as Jones which helped inspire self to really look at the art she was making and push her boundaries.  Jones attended various schools High School of Practical Arts in Boston while attending night classes at Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Columbia University and receiving her bachelor's degree from Howard University in 1945, graduating magna cum laude. During this time she really started to get into the art world and get into painting really focusing her attention on her work.

Jones applied to teach at the Museum of Fine Arts, but the Director of the school explained to her  "Lois, we don't have any opportunities here, but have you ever thought to go South to help your people?"(Gaither) She decided to listen to him and started teaching art at Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina, and then at the legendary black college, Howard University, in Washington, D.C. from 1930 to 1977.  In 1937 Jones really had a large opportunity to enter the art world. She took her first trip out of the United States. On a general educational fellowship, she went to Paris where she worked very hard producing 35 to 40 pieces in one year. She found that she was able to create art freely with out her work being judged because of the color of her skin. "The French were so inspiring. The people would stand and watch me and say ‘mademoiselle, you are so very talented. You are so wonderful.’(Bernard)  In other words, the color of my skin didn’t matter in Paris and that was one of the main reasons why I think I was encouraged and began to really think I was talented."(Finely) With these stigmas now gone she was able to focus so much of her self to the art, helping her begin her career. While still in France her style changed into mostly landscapes in a style that blended impressionism with the realist traditions. Jones also had the opportunity to meet other artists and become acquainted with new people. Artist Emile Bernard, dancer Josephine Baker, and artist Céline Tabary who told her to continue her work and gave her ideas for different styles of painting.

These next few years of Jones’ life were big stepping stones, after making a name for herself in the art world and breaking down some of the color barriers she was able to be more successful in the United States.“Loïs Mailou Jones had race and gender as imposed limitations. Add the choice of being an artist to these two and Loïs was, in my opinion, on a trajectory for providing that as a woman she was equal to and as good as any male artist, black or white.”(Tritobia) The way Jones went about changing the minds of art critics was by having to secretly enter into competitions hoping that she would win. After winning a few big named competitions she finally came out as the artist for those pieces of work of course shocking the judges and councils.  Showing the judges that her art was just as good as as the other artist even though she was African American. Indian Shops, Gay Head ,Massachusetts (1944) won Corcoran Gallery prize and were exhibited also during this period she created Jennie(1943), Mob Victim (Meditation) (1944), and the Pink Table Cloth (1944). These painting were the beginning of the style of work where she was exploring her heritage and looking into how African Americans were living under the racism of the early twentieth century.

In 1953 she married Louis Pierre-Noel who was a Haitian Artist, Jones soon found herself traveling to Haiti quite often. After the marriage there was a direct change in her work and style with items like Marche, Haiti (1963) she began using bright colors and abstract themes or features. She traveled to the Haiti in the summer of 1954,invited by the Haitian president, Paul E. Magloire, to create a series of paintings depicting Haitian life that were exhibited in a solo show the same year in Port-au-Prince. “It was like learning a new vocabulary: the colors, the patterns, the different cultural traits and practices. You can really see it in the works I painted when we were living in Haiti, starting in 1960, and I have been working in that direction ever since.”(Battaglia) Lois during her travels to Haiti was really able to find a style that was directly influenced by the culture of Haiti which opened a new world to her paintings and pieces. Also around this time Jones made the journey to Africa in 1970 Lois made her first trip to Africa she went to 11 African countries grants from Howard University to research, contemporary African arts and artists. After that trip piece like “Ubi Girl from Tai Region,” (1972),”Damballah” (1980),and La Baker (1977) were created after being influenced by African culture. In her later life she still made piece that brought all three of her trips to her work.

“Jones's career encompassed so many aspects: research, teaching, mentoring, activism in the field of the arts, in addition to the considerable body of work she created, that it is somewhat daunting to fully assess her contribution to American art.”-(Bernard) Her passion for art made her define the rules having her to create some of the most influential art and become one of the first African American artist that was known for her art. Influenced by her travels to France, Haiti, and Africa she created a style that changed the game for  artist during the Harlem Renaissance, while winning awards and making a name for herself she opened the doors for all women and African Americans alike to be taken seriously and be given a place in the art world.

LSD: Universal Cognition in a Simple Molecule

    Throughout history, doctors across the world have performed research on new methods in order to treat and cure chronic illnesses. Research is a process of trial and error; some experiments achieve the initial goal, while others give unexpected results that can be helpful for research in a completely different area. Albert Hofmann was a Swiss chemist who happened to be in a similar predicament. While attempting to find a circulatory and respiratory stimulant that treated migraines without negatively affecting the uterus, he stumbled upon Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). After discovering that LSD was not the drug he was looking for in 1938, he set it aside for five years before re-examining it in 1943. LSD would later become synonymous with the hippie movement and would gain a bad stigma for being a “dangerous drug” that lead to a rebellion of sorts against society. Despite the public’s negative notion of LSD, the drug has significant psychological benefits for those suffering from addictions, anxieties, psychiatric disorders and schizophrenia. Patients experience a vast change on their perspective of reality through ego death, resulting in lowered anxiety, dependency, and an overall increase in mental health. LSD should be used as a form of psychotherapy for those who suffer from these disorders and be allowed for further research to help similar disorders.

    Albert Hofmann was a Swiss chemist who was working in the field of pharmaceuticals, particularly focusing on the fungus ergot and other possibly medicinal plants. He spent his time delving into the combination of lysergic acid and nikethamide. He was under the assumption that bringing these two together would create the analeptic drug that would help with migraines. However, once he began testing with the two groups, he realized that the end result was not what he expected, and decided to put it aside for further investigation at a later date (Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). In 1943, five years after the initial development of LSD, Hofmann decided to re-examine the drug he made in order to see if it possessed any beneficial medicinal properties. While experimenting with it, he accidentally came in contact with a small amount of the drug through his fingertips. Following his exposure, he began to notice some visual side effects, “Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror” (BBC News). Three days later on April 19th, 1943, Albert Hofmann decided to ingest 250 μg of LSD and take a bike ride home. This was the first intentional ingestion of LSD ever recorded. Following Albert’s ingestion of LSD or “trip”, he discussed his euphoric journey of realizing how beautiful the world is around us and that every little living organism has a purpose. He goes on to discuss the possibilities of therapeutic properties that LSD could possess, especially for those who suffer from depression or psychiatric disorders. However, he’s stated that, “It is very important that one is ‘prepared’ for the use of psychedelics. It is not just fun; it is a very serious experiment” (Hofmann’s Potion). The use of LSD is a very serious subject matter; while it may have been an accident that Hofmann came across, it is of the utmost importance that LSD be used solely for medicinal purposes. This strong belief of Albert lead to spreading the word of the possibilities that LSD has, which lead to the widespread production and use of LSD in psychotherapy across the world.

    Names such as Timothy Leary became staples internationally for the use of LSD in a therapeutic environment. Initially, it was believed that LSD would be useful for psychiatrists of schizophrenics as it would induce a psychotic episode that would help them better understand the daily hallucinations that their patients endured. It was later pointed out that LSD did quite the opposite, and psychiatrists began to use it on their patients to help relieve them of their horrific hallucinations. With this in mind, research began to use LSD to assist those who suffered from severe and lifelong addictions. Myron Stolaroff, an author and psychedelic psychotherapy specialist, explains the psychological effects during a therapy session for someone suffering from addiction.

In a good LSD experience you resolve your inner conflicts, and the loads and the barriers that have developed. You begin to reach down into the depth of your own being. You see more and more levels of being. More and more levels of understanding. Often we like to blame our feelings on other people. And what they are doing to us. But if I feel that it's my feeling and I've produced it, then I'm the only one who can resolve it. And fortunately, these substances allow you see and recognize this. And resolve it (Hofmann’s Potion).

The insight that LSD brought to these patients was praised by psychiatrists around the world, however this spike in research was short lived. Psychologists and psychiatrists were in high demand for LSD from the 1950’s to the 1960’s, leading to an increased production and distribution of the drug across the globe for research. Through this mass production, however, LSD began to slip away from the security of institutions into the public's hands. During this time, those labelled as “hippies” began to recreationally use LSD as a way of better discovering “one’s self”, leading to LSD becoming a street drug. This gave LSD a bad name, especially to the public who saw it as the addictive and dangerous fuel for the “hippie movement” in the 1960’s.

It’s ironic, seeing as how most psychedelics including LSD do not possess addictive properties. “LSD does not produce compulsive drug-seeking behavior. Addiction to hallucinogens is rare, although poly-drug addicts (people who are addicted to several drugs) frequently abuse hallucinogens as well” (Brown University). Despite being shown that it is not addictive, it was still in the shadow of the initial thought that the government placed into the minds of the public. In order to contain this movement, the government began to heavily restrict the production and research of LSD. This choke hold put a quick and significant stop to research of LSD in psychotherapy. Shortly thereafter, the government banned LSD and categorized it as an illegal and dangerous drug that should not be used recreationally or for medicinal purposes (Hofmann’s Potion).

    LSD is now sold to this day through the black market and fails to see the light of day in therapeutic research. The prohibition of most psychedelics has kept research for psychiatric disorders from advancing. Even though LSD has an abundance of positive research behind it, this stigma from the 1960’s has kept society in the dark on the beneficial properties that LSD has. Duncan Blewett, LSD researcher and psychologist, states that, “There are still people who are violently opposed to psychedelics. Very few of them have ever tried psychedelics; and 99% of the opposition to them comes from people who are completely ignorant of their effects” (Hofmann’s Potion). This veil of ignorance has been over the eyes of the public for decades. The irony of the situation is that LSD is one of the most researched drugs in existence, yet most of the public fail to see beyond what they have been lied to about for generations. There are thousands of studies that have concluded that LSD shows promise when used in a controlled environment to help those with anxieties, addictions, psychiatric disorders and so forth.

    Research was abundant in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and studies even to this day on LSD have shown positive results. In 1959, there was a study to examine if LSD had any medicinal properties when treating alcoholism. 40 alcoholic patients were given LSD two separate methods of administration and testing. Results showed LSD was able to allow the patients to find better self acceptance from within, giving positive results on their alcoholism. The study recorded quotes of the patient’s experiences with LSD in the psychotherapy sessions. Some quotes were,

“I had finally understood by experience the feeling of union with the cosmos", “"There seems to be two of me and there seems to be a conflict between these two”, “During this period I was swept by every conceivable variety of pleasant emotion from my own feeling of well-being through feelings of sublimity and grandeur to a sensation of ecstasy", “I was conscious of an extremely acute sense of awareness of perception of another's mood, almost thoughts. I likened it to the recognition of emotional atmosphere that the child or animal seem to have" (N. Chwelos, D. B. Blewett, C. M. Smith  and A. Hoffer., 1959).

The study concluded that patients noticed an overall uplift in mood and brighter outlook on life and made steps towards a brighter future. It also stated that further research is required to solidify the positive effects of LSD in addict patients. This is one of many studies that have taken place since it’s first synthesis 70 years ago. Another study in 2014 involved patients and the ingestion of LSD in order to help with anxiety from terminal illnesses. This study had similar results to the one from 1959, with patients feeling more content with who they were and showing decreased levels of anxiety with increased positivity in their situation. (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease)

    LSD is a complex drug that can have extreme psychological effects on a person’s mind. It is extremely potent and requires the utmost safety and precaution when used, especially in a controlled environment with a patient and his psychiatrist. LSD has shown time and time again of its positive psychological properties and how it can assist those who struggle daily with addiction, anxiety and psychiatric disorders. Research for LSD should be used and kept away from negative bias backed by ignorant opinions. Science does not have an opinion, it only has the truth. This truth can lead to better and safer treatments for people who desperately need it, such as war veterans who have the weight of the world on their shoulders through PTSD. Instead of using a pill with a plethora of negative side effects, he could be a patient in an experiment who uses LSD in one session to help alleviate him of those horrors he goes through everyday. With an open mind and strong safety, LSD can be a very useful drug in the world of psychotherapy.

Work Cited

Hofmann’s Potion. Dir. Connie Littlefield. Alive Mind, 2002. DVD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpSLjdPiSH8

Peter Gasser, MD, Dominique Holstein PhD, Yvonne Michel, PhD, Rick Doblin, PhD, Berra Yazar Klosinski, PhD, Torsten Passie, MD, MA, and Rudolf Brenneisen, PhD. “Safety and Efficacy of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety Associated With Life-threatening Diseases.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Volume 00. Issue 00 (2014): 1-8. Web.

Brown University. Brown.edu. Brown University Student Services. Web. January 29, 2015

Dr. Albert Hofmann. “LSD: Completely Personal.” Newsletter of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Volume 6. Issue 3 (1996) Web.

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v06n3/06346hof.html

“LSD Inventor Albert Hofmann dies.” BBC News. BBC. (2008): Web. February 13 2015.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7374846.stm

      Few decades are as romanticized or chastised as the 1920’s. The 1920’s brought about massive political and social change. Between 1920 and 1929, America’s wealth more than doubled bringing a more affluent yet unaccustomed idea of a consumer society. It was the first time that more  Americans lived in cities rather than farms and people from coast to coast bought the same goods. With the end of World War I, there came glorious parties and celebration. People were thankful to have been spared in the most horrific war seen yet. However, there was more to the 1920’s than the economic prosperity and partying. The 1920’s was the decade where society tried to figure out who women were and what women want.  It was the most influential decade for women in Western society. Women had to prove through jobs, education, athletics, political and social reforms that they were as capable as men and end the gender stereotypes placed on them.

      During World War I the entire nature and structure of working society shifted. As men were sent off to war, women assumed many of the jobs that were previously held by men. Before the 1920’s women had worked, but the nature of the work changed dramatically during this time period. There was a shift away from agricultural and domestic service from the advent of industrialization. The war brought the reality of higher wages and new opportunities; there was a great expansion in factories and clerical jobs and careers for women. Women composed 23.6 percent of the labor force in 1920 (Brown). However women were not entirely welcomed into the working world of men. Syracuse psychologist Floyd Allport explains the stereotype placed on women, “1) Men and women in their inherited natures are fundamentally different. 2) But it is not so much the men who are different, as the women. 3) The sexual functions in women have a potent influence in shaping all their natural tendencies,” (Brown 40). Women faced many stereotypes and challenges in society. Although they had more opportunities than before, women had to prove themselves worthy of their male counterparts. Women had many struggles in the workforce with long held prejudices and the fear of female competition. These stereotypes and prejudice led to unequal pay. The wage differential was great, generally women received 52 to 55 percent of a man’s earnings. Brown explains the impact of the wage differential on women, “What women’s wages signaled to women was their inferiority outside the confines of the home, the need for male protection and the realization that independence and mobility were not seen as goals appropriate for them,” (85). Despite being brought into the working world, women still found themselves treated as inferiors through these wage discrepancies. Many women entered the workforce, for the first time many working the same jobs as men. With this they faced prejudice and wage inequalities, but this only increased the determination for equal rights.

       Before the 1920’s there had begun a push for higher education for women, however the duties of cleaning and cooking fell on them in coeducational institutions. The responsibility of the home was still the reality for women. However, education was impacted by the Progressive Era. There were major changes in curriculum for girls in secondary school, the number of subjects escalated from twenty-three to forty-eight. Yet even though the majority of girls were expecting to work after high school, the long term vocation for graduating women was still a homemaker. At the college level, women met the major intellectual and social challenges as they entered colleges in record numbers. Brown reports, “In 1900, 85,00 women were in college; in 1920 the number increased to 283,000; by 1930, 481,000 were enrolled, 43.7 percent of the total college population,” (133).  There was a massive influx in enrollment in colleges, especially the prestigious Seven Sisters: Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, Vassar, Barnard, Smith, Bryn Mawr and Radcliffe. The 1920’s brought a great change in educational curriculum for girls and enrollment in colleges.

      Women of the 1920’s challenged another stereotype that had previously confined them, the idea of the true woman. Brown explained this change, “The stereotype of the weak and shrinking violet was challenged by the cadre of athletic champions. Tennis star Hazel Wightman... was the mother of five children when she won Olympic gold medals in doubles and mixed doubles and the Wimbledon double championship in 1924,” (42). Athleticism of women was destroying all previous notions of women’s physical inadequacy. The image of the feeble and timid woman was replaced with the strong and powerful athletes that proved women’s physical capability. Amelia Earhart was another woman who challenged the previous standards and constrictions for women in male dominated fields. Brown discusses Earhart, “The first woman to solo across the Atlantic and the first person to fly the Atlantic twice. Earhart's feat continued the erosion of the lingering true-woman stereotype,” (44). Amelia Earhart took on challenges that had never been faced by women before and proved to disbelievers what women were truly capable of.  Through athleticism, determination, and skill, women were slowly breaking down the prejudices and stereotypes that had restrained them before.

      In 1919, women gained the right to vote, radically changing their impact on politics. At first this did not seem to change the vote greatly because most of the women that voted initially were upper class and the vote for presidency was divided mostly on ethnic and socioeconomic lines. However, the effect of women’s votes became clear in 1921 through the Sheppard Towner Act. The act provided federal funding for education and prenatal care with the creation of women and children’s health clinics. Founder and editor of American History USA, Dan Bryan explains how the act was achieved, “Spurred on by an intense lobbying effort, including threats of mass defection from the newly franchised women voters, the bill passed Congress by a margin of 279-39”. The Sheppard Towner Act was the first federally funded social welfare program. Women had acquired a voice in politics and votes to create real change.

      During the 1920’s social life changed drastically for women. A new woman was born in the 1920’s revolutionizing all previous social standards that had been set before. The contemporary historian Preston W. Slosson describes this change for women. "Thus the flapper of the 1920s stepped onto the stage of history, breezy, slangy and informal in manner; slim and boyish in form; covered in silk and fur that clung to her as close as onion skin; with carmined lips, plucked eyebrows and close-fitting helmet of hair; gay, plucky and confident... She cared little for approval and went about her ‘act,’ whether it were a Marathon dancing contest, driving an automobile at seventy miles an hour, a Channel swim, a political campaign or a social-service settlement," (Brown 32). The flapper styles and clothing were a dramatic change. Women cut their hair short in a bob style and the dresses were all shorter. Some women bound their chests to look more like boys and the waists for flapper dresses dropped to the hipline. The Jazz Age changed the style of music and dancing and women stopped wearing corsets for dancing because these dances required women to be able to move freely. Flappers smoked, drank and wore makeup which had previously only been associated with prostitution. Flappers had completely broken away from old values with these extreme changes, not only looking different but acting different as well. They were socially liberated and reckless which shocked their elders. Flappers were also generally educated about sex and did not have a problem discussing it openly, which had never been seen before. Political activist Cornelia Bryce Pinchot summed up the feeling of women, “My feminism tells me that women can bear children, charm her lovers, boss a business, swim the channel, stand at the Armageddon and battle for the Lord-all in a day’s work,” (Brown 29). Feminist movements were changing women’s perception of themselves and their capabilities. Women were no longer content with the societal rules that had been dictated for them. They rejected the previous social confines for women and made their own role in society.  

      The 1920’s proved to be the most significant decade for women through jobs, education, athletics, political and social reforms. Women entered the workplace in record numbers, working some of the same jobs as men for the first time. College enrollment for women skyrocketed during the 1920’s, making up more than 2/5 of college students by 1930. In addition, women proved themselves physically capable through incredible athletic feats and gained new political power with the ability to vote. Finally, through flappers, women revolutionized social standards for women. Of course, the 1920’s did not bring an end to gender barriers and create complete equality. The 1920’s was a radical change for women, but it was not without opposition and challenges. The 1920’s brought new opportunities and freedoms but women had to continue to fight for every right and equality to accomplish their goals for society. Brown explains, “The new women, across the generations, entered the 1920s with high expectations, ready for challenge and for choice. They began the decade with victory in the suffrage fight. They had won the right to express their political choice. They must now decide how to use it,” (47). It is important to be aware of the achievements women made in the 1920’s and the continuous effort for gender equality today.

Work Cited:

Bryan, Dan. "Working and Voting: Women in the 1920s." American History USA. Web. 27 January, 2015. http://www.americanhistoryusa.com/working-voting-women-1920s/. Dan Bryan, the editor and founder of American History USA discusses women working and voting in the 1920s. He explains the effect of women voting in the Sheppard-Towner Act. Working for women also had a substantial change with the rise of the corporate office that created many clerical occupations for women. Bryan also shares the different creative occupations sought by the twenties woman, and the societal effects of these occupational changes.

Dumenil, Lynn. "The New Woman and the Politics of the 1920s." OAH Magazine of History 21.3, Reinterpreting the 1920s (2007): 22-26. Web. http://www.trumanlibrary.org /educ/betweenthewars/Reinterpreting1920s.pdf . Lynn Dumenil describes in the essay the idea of the new woman in the 1920s and the change in politics. She uses an in depth analysis to look at the changes in the family dynamic and the female sexual liberation. Dumenil also analyzes the change in political activism and women’s increasing participation in the workforce. All of these, Dumenil shares, broadens the understanding of economic, political and social aspects of the 1920s.  

Dobie, Edgar. "Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies." Sophisticated Ladies: Women of the 1920's. Web. 25 January, 2015. http://www.arenastage.org/shows-tickets/sub-text/2009-10-season/sophis ticated-ladies/sophisticated-ladies.shtml. Edgar Dobie describes the change in the 1920s for women, socially and legally. He shares the changes with women rights starting with the right to vote and the struggles for African American women who were still kept from voting in Southern states. Beyond voting rights, women also focused on challenging gender roles and standards. Edgar Dobie speaks on the Jazz Age with the flapper as a symbol of the youth movement that changed all previous ideas of womanhood.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Flappers in the Roaring Twenties." Web. 26 January, 2015. http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm. Jennifer Rosenberg discusses the new kind of woman that emerged in the 1920s. Styles changed from the Gibson Girl to flappers after World War I. Rosenberg talks about the struggles of the war and how it affected both men and women. After the brutality in the trenches the men had a hard time adjusting to normal society and pretending it didn’t happen, and women did not want to return to the social rules before the war. Rosenberg also talks about the image and attitude of the flapper. Finally, she shares what brought the end of the roaring twenties and flapperhood.

Thomas, Pauline. "Flapper Fashion 1920s." 1920s Flapper Fashion History. Web. 28 January, 2015.http://www.fashion-era.com/flapper_fashion_1920s.htm#The%20Short%20Skirt%20Misconception%20Of%20The%20Twenties. Pauline Thomas explains the socio economic changes from World War I. High fashion was originally just for the wealthy women, but flapper dresses were much easier to make and the flapper fashion became very popular with the middle class.  The war changed the role of women more than any campaigning and protesting could have. Thomas discusses the history of flappers and their embracement of all things modern. She shares the different hemlines and masculine silhouette of 1920s women with shapeless clothing and flattened chests. Finally, Thomas describes the bob haircut that was a universal fashion change. All of these fashion changes give more insight into the role of women in the 1920s and the way the world was changing.