Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who defied conventional norms of behavior and fashion. They were known for wearing short skirts, bobbed hair, and listening to jazz music. The term "flapper" was associated with young, flirtatious female characters in theatre before the 1920s, but by the 1920s, it became synonymous with a new breed of women who challenged conservative American society. Flappers were often described as energetic, wild, and dangerous by older people due to their forward-thinking personalities and disdain for conventional notions of womens roles and appearances. They were proponents of womens social, political, economic, and sexual freedom. Flappers were typically young, single, urban, middle-class women who engaged in activities such as smoking, drinking, dancing, dating, and casual sex. They wore short and thin clothing, cut their hair in bobs, donned high heels, and put on makeup in large numbers.