Stop That Skirt-Chaser! The motion to Outlaw Flirting within the 1920s
If the Anti-Flirt activists associated with the very early century that is 20th gotten their means, cheeky advances and drive-by flirting would now be things of history.
An abundance of articles offering familiar advice on amorous overtures suddenly materialize en masse during the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. But there is a period whenever one of many getaway’s many popular topics—flirting—was under assault in the us.
A Washington Post article from February 28, 1923, entitled “10 Girls Start War on Auto Invitation,” laid out of the issue: “a lot of motorists are benefiting from the precedent established through the war by providing to just take lady that is young inside their automobiles, skip Helen Brown, 639 Longfellow Street, declared yesterday.” Brown, the assistant of this nascent Anti-Flirt club, warned why these guys “don’t all tender their invitations to truly save girls a walk,” even though there have been “other types of flirts,” motorists had been the worst that is absolute.
Brown, together with the president—a skip Alice Reighly of 1400 Harvard Street—made their course of action understood. On March 4, 1923, the anti-Flirt that is first-ever (and just since) would commence. The Post published the club’s guidelines:
1. Do not flirt; those that flirt in haste oft repent in leisure.
2. Do not accept trips from flirting motorists—they do not all invite you in to truly save you a walk.
3. Avoid using your eyes for ogling—they had been made for worthier purposes.
4. Do not venture out with guys you never know—they might be hitched, and you might be set for a hair-pulling match.
5. Do not wink—a flutter of 1 attention might cause a tear into the other.
6. Do not smile at flirtatious strangers—save them for folks you understand.
7. Don’t annex all of the guys you can easily get—by flirting with several you may get left behind regarding the one.
8. Do not be seduced by the slick, dandified cake eater—the unpolished gold of a proper man will probably be worth significantly more than the gloss of lounge lizard.
9. Don’t allow senior males with a watch to a flirtation pat you regarding the neck and just take a interest that is fatherly you. Those are the type or sort who would like to forget they’ve been dads.
10. Do not disregard the guy you’re certain of when you flirt with another. Whenever you come back to the initial one you could find him gone.
This indicates there clearly was a little, nationwide movement underway, with chapters springing up in Manhattan, Chicago, as well as other urban centers. But unlike the female-led Washington, D.C.-based group, Manhattan’s fledgling Anti-Flirt club had been headed up by guys, including “George Carroll, theatrical guy, and James Madison, a brokerage.” On 21, 1922, a reporter for the New York Times summed up their concerns november:
The five males developing the nucleus for the company state that in New York’s roads https://hookupdate.net/mytranssexualdate-review/, particularly in the theatrical districts, hordes of bugs for the masher types are holding their activities to a place where no girl is safe from approach and insult.
Associated Story
The New York contingent settled on a slogan (“Jail the flirt”) and an insignia (a lizard pierced by a hatpin) during those initial meetings at the Hotel Biltmore. The definition of “lounge lizard” very first starred in the US vernacular in 1912, and even though it many frequently described performers whom performed in lounges, the truncated label applied to well-dressed guys who wooed ladies due to their misleading charm. Likewise, a “masher”—similar to a skirt chaser, wolf, or philanderer—was a man whom made their amorous motives understood in an aggressive manner, keeping brief relations with different females.