Sexuality and Relationships in the1920s.

The 20s was a great age for the American people. After WWI, it introduced an age of economical boost and an increase of pride in America itself. This also marked the end of the Victorian Age, and an increase in the sexual nature of Americans. I chose to look at 15 words brought about in that age showed the change in the mores during that time.

General Terms

Blind Date: I don't know how many of you have had the pleasure of going on a blind date, but for those of you who have, did you ever wonder where the term came from?
It originated in the 1920s as a slang term to mean a date where the two parties don't know each other as it was planned by a third party. The term has (unfortunately) continued on to today, where it is still alive and well.
The OED places the first use of the word in 1925 under the phrase "No,  got a blind date on to-night." COHA doesn't place the first use until 1932, which could be because the term didn't become familiar and people didn't become comfortable until then.

It: The word it has been around for a very long time. The 1920s was the first decade to use it meaning 'sex appeal'. If someone had 'it', then they were thought to be good looking, a charmer, etc. It came from the novel It by Elinor Glyn.
The OED gives us the term meaning sex appeal first in 1901 in "In the Commercial Agencies he was Rated AA Plus A1, which meant that he had it in Bales". COHA was a little harder to find. I looked up the term "it", to have "it", but was unable to grab any real data distinguishing it from the 'it' meaning thing.

It Girl: The term 'it' as used in the 1920s brought about the 'it girl'. This was a girl who had it all, a famous fashion forward celebrity with a certain...something.
The OED states that the first use of this comes from 1927 with the definition "A woman who is very famous, fashionable, or successful at a particular time". COHA gives the use first in the 1920s, with a sudden drop in the 1930s before picking back up in the 1940s.

French Kiss: We can all assume that french kissing wasn't something new to the world, but the 1920s decided to give it a name. The name came from the belief that the French had a sort of sexual composition that Americans didn't have at the time.
The first use of this word appears in the OED for 1923 in the french phrase "French kiss, baiser très appuyé".. In COHA it doesn't show up until the 1930s, much like some of the other words around this time.

Sleep Around: The term 'sleep' in terms of sex has been around since we were speaking Old English. As we left the Victorian Age, we left their morals, and it wasn't until the 1920s that people started 'sleeping around'.
The OED places the first use of this phrase during 1928 in the phrase "'Sleeping around’—that was how he had heard a young American girl describe the amorous side of the ideal life, as lived in Hollywood." Other than a few instances of cowboys sleeping (in a circle) around each other, the use of this phrase didn't begin until the 1930s in COHA.

Two-time: If you've ever been two-timed, I'm sorry for you. The introduction of this word showed the promiscuity of people in the 1920s. It meant to be cheated on, or deceived, by your significant other.
The OED states 1924 as the first use of the word two-time, 1927 for two-timing, and 1927 for two timer. COHA agrees with this, placing it's first use in the 1920s with a steady increase to today

Sexpert: The word expert has been around since the 1850s. With the increase of promiscuity in the 1920s, they needed a term for someone who was extremely knowledgable in this subject. The word sexpert was invented.
The OED shows the initial use of this term first used in 1924 in the quote "The sexperts, which is a combination of sex and expert: I glued it together myself. Not so dim; yes?". COHA shows very minimal use of this, and gives the first usage in the 1040s. 

Men of the 1920s

While women were the major focus of the loss of morals in the 1920s, they weren't the only ones to increase in promiscuity. Men decided to ditch the formal mores of their victorian ancestors, and new words were invented to describe them.

Sugar daddy: As the woman in the 1920s started to have more flexible morals, they all had dreams of having a sugar daddy, an older rich gentleman who would dote upon them.
The OED gives 1926 as the first use of the term, in "There came another woman to the sofa; and spoke to me of ‘sugar-daddies’". COHA agrees, by showsing the first instance again in the 1920s. 

Gigolo:  Prostitution, they say, is the worlds oldest profession. One that was original designated specifically for women. Men started to enter this world in the 1920s, and were given the name Gigolo.
The OED shows the first use of this word in 1922, in the definition "a gigolo, generally speaking, is a man who lives off women's money". COHA shows the first use (and huge peak) of this word in the 1920s, with a consistent decrease since then.

Tomcat: This word was changed to mean a man who pursued multiple women. It was probably introduced because of the lack of mating with only one cat.
The OED puts 1927 as the first use of this phrase tomcat " to seek illicit sexual adventure. ‘Jeff he's out a-tomcattin' roun' some 'ers." COHA shows slight use of this word before the 1920s, but increases it drastically since then.

Valentino: This term was introduced by Rudolph Valentino, used to mean a good looking man after he starred in the movie "Heartthrobe".
The OED puts the phrase "Valentino, n., a handsome man kept by an oldish woman." as the first instance o of this word in 1927. COHA has a few instances of the word before the 1920s, but the 20s had an increased usage of the word.

Women of the 1920s

The promiscuity of woman had the majority of the focus in the 1920s, their decision to have more freedom in all aspects of their lives, including the sexual nature of it, brought about a lot of terms for them. 

Flapper: Historical linguists agree that a flapper was called so either because of the flapping nature of her dress, or it was a play on the word "flap" used in the 17th century as a young woman with loose character.
The OED has multiple instances of this word since 1888, under the spelling vlapper. COHA shows the use of this word before the 1920s but in minimal use, with a drastic increase in the 1920s.

Skirt: This term for the clothing piece has been around for a long time. The 20s introduced this as a term (somewhat derogatory) for woman.
The OED gives the first instance during 1560 in "Now thow thy tale hes tauld,..Bot not gottin thow wald, licht skirt for all thy skippis." This was another word that was really difficult to find in COHA, and the only way I could find it in this way was to search "a bit of skirt", which then only gave two instances, one in the 1920s and one in the 1930s.

Gold digger: If we were coming up with the word sugar daddy, then there must be a term to describe the young woman looking for an older, richer male. Gold digger was created to mimic the action of 'digging for gold' in the use of older men.
The OED has the first term in 1920, with the phrase "Jerry’ Lamar is one of a band of pretty little salamanders known to Broadway as ‘gold diggers’, because they ‘dig’ for the gold of their gentlemen friends and spend it being good to their mothers and their pet dogs.". COHA gave iffy instances with this search, but there does seem to be a slight increase during and after the 1920s.

Sheba: A sexually attractive woman. This came because of the release of the movie the Queen of Sheba in 1921. The term to mean an attractive woman comes from the risque costumes worn by Betty Blythe, which was not usual in the silent movies of the time.
As many references as I could find about this term, it doesn't show up in the OED or COHA at all. This lead me to almost not include it in this post, but because it was appearing in everything I looked up, I thought it worth adding.


Sources: http://theweek.com/article/index/243896/our-favorite-bits-of-1920s-slang
The Old English Dictionary
www.corpus.byu.edu/coha/