Pim Jansen

Erasmus University Rotterdam

In August 2015, Pim Jansen finished the masters program International Relations and Global History at the School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Supervised by Ben Wubs, she wrote her masters thesis Denimism: Denim and equal rights for women from the perspective of the American mass media, 1915-1975. At the conference Denim on Stage: University meets industry, she will present the most interesting findings of her thesis.

Abstract

Denimism: Denim and equal rights for women from the perspective of the American mass media 1915-1975

Denim blue jeans are one of the most worn garments in the world. Jeans developed in the twentieth century from a workers garment, through a uniform of non-conformity, to an item of fashion design. This development reflected underlying social changes in American society. One of these changes was the aim for equal rights. Noticeable is the fact that as women were aiming for equal rights, they also started to adopt the male pants, especially blue jeans. This presentation describes the connection between the different developments in equal rights, blue jeans, and mass media.