I had an interesting experience while being interviewed on a radio show last summer: the moderator did not know what a Gibson Girl was. After I explained to him that she was the iconic symbol of independent and spirited young women in the late 19th century, he wondered aloud how my main character would have gotten along with the women who lived in the small town of Las Cruces in 1898 -- would she have been too progressive for them?
Whatdya think -- weren't the women of both Anglo and Hispanic heritage who coexisted in the Territory of New Mexico at that time progressive, too?
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2 comments:
I think people should google Charles Dana Gibson. His beautiful depictions of this strong, independent, opinionated new woman was no Victorian predecessor. Today we take for granted of this kind of woman, but for her day, she was indeed a brave new-world leader in the independence of women from their restrictions through the centuries. It was the beginning of women demanding the vote and to be shed of the hackles of convention of the standards of their mothers, and fathers. The shackles of a conventional type of behavior.
They are an ideal but they are also a feast for the eyes. I love his artwork.
Thanks, Penny!
But how do you feel she would have fit into the scheme of things in 1898 Las Cruces?
Kathy
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