Driven from the Public Sphere: The Conflation of Women's Liberation and Driving in Advertising from 1910 to 1920

Abstract

Automobile advertisements in the Ladies' Home Journal from 1910 to 1920 sometimes represented “woman's” relationship to the traditional public sphere in relatively liberating ways, but still maintained a restrictive overall message to women with regard to these roles. Relying on rhetoric surrounding the issues of woman's suffrage and World War I, these advertisements promote “freedom” for “woman” while simultaneously containing that freedom and conflating movement into the public sphere as consumers with political parity.

Keywords:

• Advertising
• Women's public address
• Suffrage rhetoric
• Public sphere
• Ladies' Home Journal