UNPRECEDENTED ACHIEVEMENTS
Amelia made progress on several women’s issues, but she’s most widely known for improving women’s clothing
The Bloomer Costume was ridiculed in person and in print, but Amelia couldn’t care less, and clapped back:
“Those who think we look queer, would do well to look back a few years, to the time when they wore ten or fifteen pounds of peticoat [sic] and bustle around the body, and baloons [sic] on their arms [that is, big sleeves], and then imagine which cut the queerest figure, they or we. We care not for the frowns of over fastidious gentlemen . . . If men think they would be comfortable in long heavy skirts, let them put them on – we have no objection. . . .”
Reluctant Rebel
She didn’t intend to revolutionize women’s clothing, and it wasn’t her only accomplishment, but it’s definitely her most widely known. Although she was religious and reluctant to “rebel”, she eventually became a successful women’s rights activist and changed the world.
Amelia Jenks was born into modest means in Homer, NY, and married Dexter Bloomer, a fellow political activist who supported her interests and independence from the start. Their wedding vows excluded the promise of obedience.
Amelia worked at her husband’s paper and was dissatisfied with the lack of attention on women’s issues, and after attending a women’s rights conference and with Dexter’s encouragement, she started her own newspaper called The Lily.
The newspaper focused exclusively on women’s rights, starting with The Temperance Movement. At the time, many women were attracted to the movement because under the current legal and social systems, they were unable to earn a living or own property, and totally dependent on the head of the house for their livelihood and support. Many women suffered from the effects that alcohol had on their husbands, and felt temperance was the solution.
Ignore the Haters
As time wore on and as she was exposed to a wider world, her activism increased. She remained a fervent supporter of the temperance movement her whole life, but she understood that changing the laws as they pertain to women and the right to vote were the bigger issues at hand. However, her most influential work was in dress reform. Amelia noticed early on in life the health hazards and restrictive nature of corsets and dresses. The dictates of modesty for the day called for floor-length dresses, and fashion demanded a full skirt beneath a tiny waist.
Middle- and upper-class women achieved this look by wearing restrictive corsets and a full skirt with 6-8 petticoats underneath to fill out the shape of the skirt. The petticoats could weigh 15 pounds, placing enormous pressure on the hips and making movement difficult and even dangerous, causing them to trip and overheat. The corsets made of whalebone impaired breathing and crushed their organs.
Amelia insisted that women should ditch petticoats and corsets and wear flowy tops as well as skirts with pants underneath. Her neighbor’s cousin, Elizabeth Smith Miller, who was the daughter of wealthy abolitionists and had the confidence and privilege to break social norms and get away with it, started wearing a new style of “Turkish pantaloons” under a short skirt. Amelia took notice and began to wear them exclusively, as did many of the women in her social and political circles.
Amelia wrote about the new style of clothing, dubbed the Freedom Dress, and published photos of herself wearing it in The Lily, which received national news attention. She was ridiculed and criticized by both men and women who thought it was a sign of moral decay and a threat to male power. There were many disparaging political cartoons published in nation-wide newspapers, referring to the pantaloons as “The Bloomer Costume.” So while she didn’t invent the costume, her name became synonymous with it. It may not seem like a radical thing to us today, but wearing pants was a sign of gender dissent, and it took courage to do what these women did. The vitriol and ridicule continued and became a distraction to their message, so most of the women abandoned the bloomers, but Amelia continued to wear short skirts over pantaloons until 1858, when the light-weight hoop skirt was invented.
Choosing Love
When her husband decided to sell his paper and move to Council Bluffs, Iowa, she followed his wishes and sold The Lily to move with him. Although it could be seen as contradictory to her independence and role as a women’s rights activist, to drop her life’s work and follow her husband, Amelia prioritized her home life and relationship with her husband over everything else. This is a line we often have to walk as mothers and wives, balancing the different roles and responsibilities we have and making tough decisions.
Amelia’s fight for women’s rights continued through her writing and speaking engagements, until her death in 1894. Her courage in her convictions is inspirational, and the example she set for us is so relevant today.