They might have sped up the feminist movement, but I'm no sociologist.

Revolutionized in-door plumbing

The flapper changed society because they started the feminist movement. Back in those days women were not really allowed to go into bars alone and they were seen as prostitutes if alone in a bar... Men started getting bored and the bars started what we know now as ladies night. That allowed women to come into the bars for a lower price, or free, so that they could entertain the men. Here are some books that show this: http://www.amazon.com/Flapper-Madcap-Celebrity-America-Modern/dp/1400080541/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8& ttp://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Amusements-Working-Turn-Century/dp/0877225001/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200359706&sr=1-1

The clothing known as "the flapper" was the first sign that women were coming into their own. Of course the passage of the Nineteenth Ammendment in 1920 did far more for American Society than women wearing short skirts and cutting their hair (not to mention throwing away their corsets). Womens' clothing now became more of a Big Business than it ever had been before, with more and more women entering the work force. They had more money to spend, and demanded clothing more suited to their new found freedom. The cosmetics industry alone let to many modern day developments that we would never have seen if not for the liberation of women.

The flappers appeared in the middle of a wave of liberalism in American society. It was made possible because of the liberalism, and it helped to propagate the liberalism. Here some information about them: "The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a "new breed" of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to the new Jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. The flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms." "Flappers had their origins in the period of liberalism, social and political turbulence, and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of the First World War, as well as the export of African American jazz culture to Europe." "Flappers went to jazz clubs at night where they danced provocatively, smoked cigarettes through long holders, sniffed cocaine (which was legal at the time) and dated. They rode bicycles and drove cars. They drank alcohol openly, a defiant act in the American period of Prohibition. Petting became more common than in the Victorian era. Petting Parties where petting was the main attraction became popular. Flappers also began taking work outside the home and challenging a 'woman's place' in society. Voting and Women's rights were also practiced. With time 'shocking' dance styles such as the Charleston, the Shimmy, the Bunny Hug and the Black Bottom were developed." "Despite all the scandal flappers generated, their look became fashionable in a toned-down form among even respectable older women. Most significantly, the flappers removed the corset from female fashion and popularized short hair for women." "Despite its popularity, the flapper lifestyle and look could not survive the Wall Street Crash and the following Great Depression. The high-spirited attitude and hedonism simply could not find a place amid the economic hardships of the 1930s. More specifically, this decade brought out a conservative reaction and a religious revival which set out to eradicate the liberal lifestyles and fashions of the 1920s. In many ways, however, the self-reliant flapper had allowed the modern woman to make herself an integral and lasting part of the Western World." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapper

Without it my toilet would run constantly.

Flappers did not start the feminist movement; they benefited from it. The feminist movement was started in the mid 1800s by first wave feminists who wanted better treatment in general. Second wave feminists wanted the vote and got it in 1919. Then came the Flappers. Flappers are considered 3rd wave feminists, and ironically, many of them took for granted the hard work of the first two groups and looked down on feminists; but they were directly reaping the benefits by going to school and taking professional jobs. They were the first generation of women to "feel" liberated, rather than working towards liberation. They embodied the freedom that women were striving towards. In their way, they were the first punkers; they denied social and fashion conventions, and did what they pleased, regardless of public sentiment - often to the shock and awe of the "adults." It was a short lived phase though, and most just went on to be mothers and wives. They opened the door for women's sexual /social liberation in a way that have never been done in public before.

By defying the norms of expected behavior they created a culture that gave them permission to be different. This culture of permission has continued to this day and so we have teenagers pushing the envelope of acceptable behavior each generation. we have them to thank and blame for this.