Towards a New Feminine Ideal: Sinful Beauties Mae West and Bessie Smith

Bc. Zuzana Lomjanská

Master's thesis

Abstract:

My thesis deals with the changes in perception of female beauty during the 1920s and examines the reasons for a rather dramatic shift in attitudes towards women’s social role. The Roaring Twenties was a period of two female revolutions. While white women felt the necessity to disentangle themselves from the restrictions of Victorian morality, black women stood in need of breaking the stereotypes created by the African-American intellectual and cultural elite who desired to destroy the image of a primitive Negritude by portraying women in accordance with the Victorian values. For demonstrating the way in which the two women’s revolutions influenced each other, I have chosen two women, each representing one revolution--the controversial actress and playwright Mae West and the African-American blues singer Bessie Smith. The work and public performance of these women defied the traditional conception of womanhood and had a significant impact on the creation of a new ideal of feminine beauty.

Abstract:

My thesis deals with the changes in perception of female beauty during the 1920s and examines the reasons for a rather dramatic shift in attitudes towards women’s social role. The Roaring Twenties was a period of two female revolutions. While white women felt the necessity to disentangle themselves from the restrictions of Victorian morality, black women stood in need of breaking the stereotypes created by the African-American intellectual and cultural elite who desired to destroy the image of a primitive Negritude by portraying women in accordance with the Victorian values. For demonstrating the way in which the two women’s revolutions influenced each other, I have chosen two women, each representing one revolution--the controversial actress and playwright Mae West and the African-American blues singer Bessie Smith. The work and public performance of these women defied the traditional conception of womanhood and had a significant impact on the creation of a new ideal of feminine beauty.

Keywords

female beauty, blues, Mae West, Bessie Smith, the 1920s, True Womanhood, African-Americans, morality, advertisement, flappers, Venus, siren

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 30. 4. 2009

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 18. 6. 2009
• Supervisor: Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, M.A.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Philology / English Language and Literature