1920s sexism

i've recently read the flappers series by jillian larkin and now i'm reading the songbird with the sapphire eyes by anna brentwood. they're both set in the 1920s (an era i'm slowly becoming obsessed with) and i find them really great, they're kind of similar, though the latter is more adult. one of the things that really interests me is that they both touch on the really sexist attitudes society seemed to have back then. females were expected to be really submissive and silent and homely and pretty. there's not much wrong with that if it's what someone wants to be, but i think it's really unfair that women were expected to wait around for a man and never been in charge of her own life. like it seemed outrageous for a woman to smoke cigarettes in public but men could go to places and be offered cigars. if she wasn't being 'ladylike' and 'proper' it was as if she had no morals and had completely let go, lol please. apparently even showing your knees was indecent idgi. it sucks that people still hold these old fashioned and nonsensical beliefs (not the knees stuff i hope) and all these double standards and expectations. i can't comprehend it.

"any fella lets a dame go first is asking for trouble, kid. doing that, you dangerously undermine the fact that men are superior and that kind of crap gives women the notion they're better." - johnny gallo, the songbird with the sapphire eyes (i want to shoot him lol)