The Edwardian Debutante: How Women Entered Society Before the Great War

Edwardian Promenade ^ | 12-05-2013 | Camille Hadley Jones

[trisham]

Correct.

[brucedickinson]

now, the french are a bunch of black guys running around setting cars on fire- kind of like St. Louis. Oui oui- let me grab my beret

[nopardons]

I don’t know of anyone who was having a SWEET 16 party in the late ‘/80s - now, but yes, Senior proms were and I think still are a BIG DEAL; now matter where one is, or whatever kind of school one attends.

[Stepan12]

Is the first photo, Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, the supermodel of the 1900s? It seems so.

[Little Bill]

In a straight line about 450 years, gets a bit confused before that. One of the nice things about being a genetic odd ball in a rather homogeneous place is that is that makes tracing easier.

[Stepan12]

And the article was correct in one thing, adolescence is an arbitrary construction. We should do away with it.The women (all people, actually) are either children or adults.

[nopardons]

You're very lucky to be able to go back that far!

OTOH...this article is about the late Victorian-early Edwardian period, so please do keep it to that time period. :-)

[Deplorable American1776]

Interesting... I met Mrs Deplorable at a Shop-Rite...

[Art in Idaho]

Yes, adolescence is almost a sanction saying you can act like a kid. I agree, children or adult. Then we have 20 something snowflakes that don't know what to do except find a safe space.

I agree, children or adult.

[Little Bill]

From 1838 until 1933 all of my paternal relatives were married at 18 or younger.

[kalee]

Thanks for posting. This is a time period that fascinates me.

[tbw2]

I’ve read complaints by working class feminists who worked their way up to middle/upper class and criticizing upper class activists.
For example, criticism of the elites demanding equal representation in the boardroom when working class women want better schools, more subsidized childcare, more jobs. (Trump earned many poor white women’s votes on that last point.)
Or liberal elite women complaining about microaggressions on campus while poor women face a much higher rate of rape and far less support than the drunk coed who regrets it.

[elcid1970]

Old saying: “There are sixteen year old girls, and there are sixteen year old women.”

My grandmother was married at sixteen. They were together nearly fifty years until Grandpa died from a stroke.

[trisham]

Holy cow.

[trisham]

She looks depressed.

[nopardons]

The men as well ?

[nopardons]

The term "teenager" is a relatively new construct and really didn't catch on until the late 1930-early 1940s. It really wasn't a license to still act like a child, though!

And until pretty recently, once one turned 21, one and everyone else, saw you as an ADULT!

There were always some people who refused to grow up/act their age; however, that used to be really rare!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Internet Movie Data Base differs. Who can forget Elizabeth McGovern as Evelyn Nesbit in the movie!
And Robert Joy as Henry Thaw.
Norman Mailer as Stanford White.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082970/

[HandyDandy]

When Ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
Where I can watch her waltz for free
‘Neath her Panamanian moon.
An’ I say, “Aw come on now,
You must know about my debutante.”
An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Bob Dylan

[nopardons]

Try to see Joan Collin is THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING and you’ll forget all about Elizabeth McGovern!