Remembering – and Honoring - the History of Hatpin Feminism
by Helena Donato-Sapp
I had an English teacher once who always told our class that when we started reading a new novel we were “entering the grand conversation” of that book. People had studied and commented on the text way before we were born, we were entering the conversation around the themes in the novel now, and others would continue to enter the “grand conversation” of that book in the future. I’ve always liked that framework. One thing that is important to me as a 13-year-old feminist is that I learn about the history of feminism. How do I honor what has happened before me? How do I acknowledge the struggle that gives me privileges today?
My family and I came across a story about hatpins. The hatpin was introduced in the mid-1800s and its purpose was to do away with the awkward and clumsy bonnet strings that women had been using to keep their hats on. Women considered the hatpin a kind of liberation from the bonnet strings because it made wearing their huge hats a bit easier. They would use these steel pins to secure their hats to their heads. The hatpins were about nine inches long and really sharp so that they could push easily through hats and fabric. They were really pretty and often made of jewels.
Hatpins came into fashion around the same time that urban industrialization occurred. Women were moving around more because of public transit, going to large department stores, and such. Also, at that time, men just didn’t quite know what to do with women who were traveling alone, as it had always been the “proper” thing to have a male companion travel with you. Men thought only sex workers traveled alone. Men would catcall, leer, and even grab women without their permission.
Many of these empowered women had already joined the suffrage movement and were not about to stand for being publicly molested just because they wanted to walk about on their own. They referred to these men as “mashers” and they began to fight back by attacking these mashers with, of all things, their lovely new hatpins! So, from around 1910 to 1920 there was what some male politicians referred to as “the hatpin peril” and they even started passing laws to limit the length and sharpness of hatpins. The women were applauded by many for standing up for themselves and that is how the little hatpin accessory became a symbol of empowerment. (Source: https://historyofyesterday.com/the-women-who-fought-sexual-predators-with-their-hatpins-cedb0b563754)
My parents had a hatpin or two that used to belong to my great-grandmother. I loved them immediately because of this historical story that we had read. I wanted more of them. It just so happens that our family loves to go to flea markets and antique shops and yard sales and so we began to look for more hatpins. As luck would have it, they are everywhere and they are really inexpensive because nobody wears them anymore. Below is a photo of my collection of hatpins that I’ve gathered so far. I think they are quite beautiful. We find them for around five dollars or so and it has been easy to build a small collection. People today don’t wear hats like in the old days, but we still found a way to use them. I have two dads and they wear them in the lapels of their suit jackets, which is how I display them too. What is fun about it is that people always comment on the hatpin to me and then I get to launch into the history of feminism. I will probably collect these for the rest of my life. And I especially love that my collection is rooted in the history of women's empowerment.