Inequality In Doris Guenther's The Artificial Silk Girl

No longer was the feminine and stay at home woman in style; this was the age of short haircuts and dresses that didn’t emphasize a woman’s curves. With the emergence of the idea of the “new woman”, these women could only hope to defy patriarchy instilled in German society. The late 1910’s and 1920’s were filled with women taking up jobs considered for men: working with machines, mining, metal working, etc. (Guenther, 1). However, this was only one side of the definition. By being over -glamourized, the new woman seemed to have it all, but this was not the case. Even though the era of “the New Woman” was thought to be a time for beginning to bridge the gap of inequality, the influence of masculinity and patriarchy was still dominant and broke down the superficially of what seemed to be a rise in equality from the new women idea. Seen in the novel, Doris struggles to try and embrace the “new woman” persona even with her codependence of her numerous men in The Artificial Silk Girl. The “New Woman” emerged after World War I, at the beginning of the 1920’s. This decade was coined with many names: “the crazy years, the age of youth, the golden years, the glamour years” etc. (Guenther, …show more content…
Acting as some what of an expert, she tells Brenner, “a woman should never wear artificial silk when she’s with a man” (Keun, 94). She understands that its her appearance, more specifically the level of which she can be perceived as glamourous to her male suitors. This is quite a jump from the working women of the late 1910’s and 1920’s, who supposedly altered their looks for themselves. This brings into question what exactly those women accomplished in terms of equality. Doris still continues to rely on over sexualizing herself to get support from men. Rather than feeling sexually liberated in terms of the clothing she can now wear, uses it to over sexualize herself. Fashion is used to draw in men, and keep them