THE "MODERN" GIRL

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 22, 26 July 1927, Page 8

THE "MODERN" GIRL

FOR AND AGAINST

(By"X.Y.Z.")

Things are not what they w^re in the good old days—and they never were.

Every woman enjoys a compliment if if be not ill-made, but to-day's femininity must be more than a little tired of the complimentary attentions paid her by public, Press, and pulpit. To be sure, not all the references are appreciative. A good many are condemnatory; but woman, "modern" woman, is the centre of the whole discussion. Now. that's complimentary, isn't it? What more does the average woman ask than to be the contre of attraction? The position has its humour. On the t c -ide are the serious, statistics-tak-ing, rather rumour-revelling people, whoso opinion of to-day's girl (and by "girl," of course, is meant any unmarried woman with young habits) runs something like this: "She drinks, she smokes, she swears, she lip-sticks, sho powders her nose in public, she joyndea, she Charlestons, she doesn't wear enough clothes, and sho doesn't go to church. The modern girl? Heaven help her!" On. the other hand, there are those who say: "The modern girl? Heaven bless her! She's healthy, because she plays games and wears correct clothing, she's a good business girl, because she has come more in contact with the world as it is; she's got a sense of fun, and if she doesn't go to church it's probably because she thinks out her own beliefs and sticks to them." _ Between these two camps rides (joyrides, of course) the twentieth century miss, not greatly caring to which gido her allegiance is credited; but which of these paragons of vice and virtue is really she? Before we decide, let us digress (all the best writers do it) and ask why the word "modern" is used so disparagingly. If the adjective means something like "up-to-date," or ■"product of the prestnt," why aren't wo all aiming at qualifying for its application to ourselves? Every time we refer to the "modern" girl we endow her with a quality we ourselves should wish for, but admit we have not. Perhaps we are being unduly conceited in applying the word "modern" at all. "There's nothing new under the sun" was a very sound remark, and we flatter ourselves when we think all the vices of the modern (how easily it slips out!) girl of to-day are peculiar to our times. They're not. We just notice it more following on a "Victorian" era. Coming years alone will assign the word "modern", to its rightful type of womanhood, and probably neither the cocktail-drinking, dance-hall flower, nor the athletic boyette will wear the honour. It is more than likely that the girl who to future generations will seem best to represent these post-war years will be she who struck the happy medium between the excessively evil and the excessively goodj who smoked without ruining her constitution; who swore when she had to, but powdered her nose only when it was shiny; who used a lip-stick without leaving a red gash in the middle of her face; Charlestoned without getting heart disease or thick ankleß; went to church when there was something worth listening to; played games and did her work not in plus fours and a monocle, but in skirts and a spirit of goodwill; who kept her sense of humour and a fair supply of good looks. Sounds rather a "tall order," doesn't it? But just look around and think and you'll find not a few women of these bad old days more worthy than you wot of. And yet the pessimist is always with us, and in a good many cases the pessimist is experienced. This means that on quite a few occasions he or she has seen girls "intoxicated," and knows definitely of the evils which have followed. But as it is much more exciting (and pessimistic* to talk about evil than good, the experiences of the experienced are repeated until the godliness of the good is forgotten. However, experience, if unenviable, is valuable in that it often serves to substantiate what is vaguely in the minds of many. Thus it comes about that the ppin-

ion as well as the work of social workers, who, by the way, are generally the first to be approached when a tirade «s in progress against "the modern girl," are of great value. Their utterances up and down the country during the past few months prove that drinking is on the increase among young people, particularly young girls. But they do not prove the averaee girl of to-day any worse than the average girl of a few thousand yesterdays, which is what quite a number of people TT-ould bel>tve.

Then there a the rpllgious question. Churchmen will say that girls nowadays pay more heed to material pleasures than to spiritual blessings; that they ?£ vo ™. ° thne for the Church." Has the Church as represented by. a good many of the clergy "any tide" for them? Only a scholar can apply the Christian lessons of over a thousand years ago to the Christian problems of to-day. The little crises of our daily lives in which we so long for guidance are no nearer solution after a hesitating or hurried Sunday address on Uriah the Hittite than before we entered church "is not the service which is at fault, but the interpretation. It lacks that vitality which to the young means everything, and, missing the contact impatient youth turns after one brief trial from spiritual to worldly thines So when the "modern" girl is being dissected, remember that although this age has been claimed as one peculiarly feminine, her temptations are in proportion to her increased freedom, and her true friends are few. Yet time niav prove that she has not played a rather lone and difficult hand too badly.