How do you communicate without saying a word? Today, most people agree that text messages or messenger apps check that box. Lacking this tech in the 18th and 19th centuries, men and women resorted to more creative options. Parasols, postage stamps, window signals, and even hats, helped men and women circumvent the strict rules for courtship by creating freedom to say how they felt through code.
Sadly, these methods weren’t the best-kept secrets. The signals were printed in pamphlets or books by many well intentioned authors. For example, in The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained, Henry Wehman decodes the language of hats, gloves, handkerchiefs, and fans (see images). This public outing of supposed secret signals may have been helpful for those in the dark, but it did not help people, women in particular, who wanted a subtle method for sharing their point of view. Fortunately, there was a portable accessory that served more than one purpose. The 18th-century fan was fashionable, flirty, and a billboard for displaying a woman’s opinion in a social setting.
With a meaningful swipe or flutter of the fan, a woman could communicate messages such as “kiss me” or “I’m engaged.” But fans were used as more than a courtship “weapon.” Hugh Davies’s research suggests fans were a precursor to mobile communication. Davies says, “In a time when women were considered “better seen than heard,” fans offered a means by which women could project a range of views. For the 18th-century woman, the surface of the hand-fan ensured that to be seen was to be heard” (Davies, emphasis mine). Much like the smartphones we rely on today, the 18th-century woman used the surface of a fan to transmit non-verbal messages that spoke to her character and beliefs.
During the French Revolution, women commissioned double-sided fans, often one side floral and one side political.“The fall of Versailles, the French Revolution and, most notably, Napoleon’s planned invasion of England were documented in illustrated fans” (Davies). This system allowed women to display their political support while avoiding negative repercussions. A woman could freely display the political image or flip the fan to the floral side to “hide” her opinion. With a seemingly nonthreatening accessory women exuded fashion and wealth while controlling with whom, when, and where they shared their ideals.
Fans weren’t always political or used to evade dangerous situations. There’s evidence that women also selected images that made “claims to character, fashionable sentiments, and cultural taste, as well as to patriotism and political opinion” (Chalus, 2012, pp. 99–100). In this sense, fans served a similar role to social media sites like Instagram, but instead of a digital collection of images, women commissioned fans.
A flourish, flip, or flutter allowed women to hold (no pun intended) a sense of power while out in society. This is no doubt why the 16th-century English writer Joseph Addison quipped that “Men have the sword, women have the fan and the fan is probably as effective a weapon!” At the height of fashion, fans had the potential to display wealth and class, lure suitors, or even stir support for a revolution. That is the power of mobile communication, or in this case, a portable accessory. In a society that championed women as something to be seen and not heard, they wielded fashion and imagery to speak through the silence.
Linné Elizabeth is an award-winning author with a penchant for chocolate and Jane Austen retellings. Her latest short story, “New Year, New Problems,” will be published September 10, 2024 in Crime and Culpability: A Jane Austen Mystery Anthology. You can find out more about her writing adventures on Instagram @Library4One or by visiting her website.
Crime and Culpability: A Jane Austen Mystery Anthology
“No one can withstand the charm of such a mystery.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion
Jane Austen mysteries have become a popular subgenre of Austen variations, but this is more than just a trend. Austen was a masterful storyteller who embedded clues within her stories for her readers to follow, inviting readers to read between the lines and “gather the evidence” to follow her intricate plot lines.
In this anthology, various authors who are also fans and admirers of Austen’s work have taken the challenge to add some mystery to Austen’s stories and characters. From Regency sequels to film noir retellings to cozy art heists, Crime and Culpability: A Jane Austen Mystery Anthology explores the many faces of Austen and all of her enigmas.
Featuring stories by Regina Jeffers, Riana Everly, Jeanette Watts, Michael Rands, Linne Elizabeth, Emma Dalgety, and Elizabeth Gilliland, with a foreword by Regina Jeffers and an introduction by Elizabeth Gilliland Rands.
Linné Elizabeth’s offering is entitled “New Year, New Problems” ~ ~ ~
What do an unexpected romantic encounter and a stolen family heirloom have in common? Liam Darcy. In the dogged pursuit of justice, Darcy’s misguided suspicion eventually unveils an unlikely thief.
Purchase Links:
Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Culpability-Austen-Mystery-Anthology-ebook/dp/B0D6JQN6JL
Available to Read on Kindle Unlimited
References
Chalus, E. (2012). Fanning the flames: Women, fashion and politics. In T. Porter (Ed.), Women,
popular culture and the eighteenth century (pp. 92–112). Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
DAVIES, H. Fanology: Hand-fans in the prehistory of mobile devices. MOBILE MEDIA &
COMMUNICATION, [s. l.], v. 7, n. 3, p. 303–321, 2019. DOI
10.1177/2050157919846181. Disponível em:
https://research-ebsco-com.libproxy.utahtech.edu/linkprocessor/plink?id=aa6066e5-15b2
-323f-abdb-36433210aa2c. Acesso em: 8 ago. 2024.
Wehman, Henry J. The Mystery of Love, Courtship, and Marriage Explained. Wehman
Brothers, 1890.
Every Woman Dreams... 