{"id":17695,"date":"2019-08-26T02:27:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T02:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17695"},"modified":"2019-08-27T14:13:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T14:13:09","slug":"can-sun-umbrellas-ever-become-fashionable-again-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/can-sun-umbrellas-ever-become-fashionable-again-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Can sun umbrellas ever become fashionable again in America?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Coopersmith<\/a>, Texas A&M University <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Many of us apply sunscreen when we go to the beach. But walking outside under the fierce summer sun \u2013 even if it\u2019s to run a quick errand \u2013 can be taxing: We sweat, we get exhausted, we burn and we expose ourselves to dangerous UV rays.<\/p>\n

In Asian countries, many people have a convenient tool at their disposal: They\u2019ll often use umbrellas to shield them from the sun\u2019s powerful rays.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., even though most people own an umbrella to keep them dry when it\u2019s raining, almost no one uses one for sun protection. Yet at one time, trendsetting American women did use umbrellas for sun protection.<\/p>\n

As a historian of technology<\/a>, I\u2019m interested in why some technologies are readily accepted by some groups but not by others. Unlike an expensive technology that may be very challenging to learn how to use \u2013 such as a car with a manual transmission \u2013 the umbrella is cheap, readily accessible and easy to use.<\/p>\n

So why did the sun umbrella fall out of favor in the U.S.? And can Americans \u2013 women and men \u2013 ever be convinced to carry an umbrella when it\u2019s hot and sunny, not just when it\u2019s wet?<\/p>\n

From status symbol to tool of the masses<\/h2>\n

The umbrella was actually invented to protect people from the sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The origin of the word \u201cparasol\u201d comes from the French \u201cpara,\u201d for \u201cstop,\u201d and \u201csol,\u201d for sun. And \u201cumbrella\u201d originates from the Latin \u201cumbra,\u201d which means \u201cshade\u201d or \u201cshadow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of years ago, servants in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and India wielded large umbrellas to shade rulers from the sun. Umbrellas made for individual use didn\u2019t appear in Europe until the late 17th and early 18th centuries<\/a>, and they were deployed to ward off both the sun and the rain. Fashionable, wealthy women primarily used them, a reflection of the umbrella\u2019s high cost and the status it denoted.<\/p>\n

By the 1850s, the introduction of folding metal ribs and lighter materials, like silk, reduced the weight and cost of the umbrella, transforming it into an essential component of the wardrobes of middle-class and upper-class women.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Colin Campbell Cooper\u2019s 1918 painting \u2018Summer.\u2019<\/span>
\nThe Athenaeum<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like other technologies, ranging from radios to thermos bottles, 20th-century mass production<\/a> turned umbrellas from a status symbol for the wealthy into a tool for the masses.<\/p>\n

When it comes to protection from the sun, umbrellas have been long used by women far more than men<\/a>. In 19th-century Western cultures \u2013 much like in Asia today \u2013 pale skin was perceived as a sign of beauty<\/a>. It signaled that a woman was wealthy enough that she didn\u2019t have to work outdoors.<\/p>\n

The umbrella also came to be associated with feminine fraility, which made umbrellas less attractive to men. The reluctance<\/a> of the military to authorize their officers and men to use umbrellas is one example of how the umbrella has been gendered.<\/p>\n

Yet since the 1960s, the inexpensive umbrella has become a widespread low-cost accessory for Asian women to protect them from the sun. A 2008 survey<\/a> found 65% of Beijing women used an umbrella to reduce sun exposure, while only 14% of men did \u2013 a result found in similar studies.<\/p>\n

So why did American women stop using the umbrella for sun protection?<\/p>\n

The automobile reduced the need for walking and provided a private shield from the sun for the driver and passengers. Starting in the 1920s, tans started to be seen as a sign of beauty<\/a> in many Western cultures, while changing fashion styles<\/a> dictated that a \u201cmodern\u201d women should shed the parasol as a must-have accessory.<\/p>\n

A sensible skin cancer deterrent?<\/h2>\n

While many Asian women might use the umbrella to preserve their fair skin, increasing concerns about skin cancer might serve as an impetus to re-introduce the sun umbrella in Western cultures.<\/p>\n

A rise in skin cancer rates \u2013 5 million new cases and 9,000 deaths from melanoma annually in America<\/a> \u2013 has led to a growing emphasis<\/a> on reducing sun exposure among public health advocates.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, sun umbrellas haven\u2019t received much attention. Even the American Academy of Dermatology suggests umbrellas only for infants<\/a>, gardeners<\/a> and tractor drivers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet they\u2019re effective, cheaper and less messy than applying sunscreen. A 2012 study<\/a> conducted by the Emory Medical School Department of Dermatology found that an umbrella could reduce direct exposure to UV rays by 77% to 99%. Total UV exposure<\/a>, which includes indirect sunlight reflected from the ground, can be much higher, which is why sun umbrella advocates emphasize that it should be used only as an adjunct, not a replacement, for other preventive measures<\/a> like clothing and sunscreen.<\/p>\n

But clearly, there\u2019s a big roadblock that\u2019s holding back their widespread adoption \u2013 American women either don\u2019t know about sun umbrellas or don\u2019t see them as fashionable. And most men definitely don\u2019t view them favorably<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Making umbrellas fashionable again<\/h2>\n

How can we make umbrellas fashionable again?<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s, of all places, could offer some clues.<\/p>\n

Eating hamburgers with your hands is not a genetically hardwired activity. Some cultures even frown on eating with your hands in public<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, since the 1960s, McDonald\u2019s has opened over 30,000 stores in more than 100 countries. Now, people around the world eat hamburgers with their hands. McDonald\u2019s pulled this off by intensively promoting its burgers as a visible symbol of modernity and Americanism while also adapting to local cultures.<\/p>\n

Menus were expanded to include local cuisine \u2013 think shrimpburgers in Japan and mashed potato beef burgers in China<\/a>. McDonald\u2019s advertisements featured celebrities and actors happily eating hamburgers with their hands<\/a>. Nervous neophytes easily learned how to hold a hamburger without feeling like a ignorant, second-class citizen.<\/p>\n

Making sun umbrellas fashionable might require a similar campaign, one that involves the medical community, fashion designers, umbrella manufacturers, umbrellas sellers and media influencers.<\/p>\n

Just as the MTV show \u201cSixteen and Pregnant\u201d helped reduce teenage pregnancy in the United States<\/a>, so too could television and social media promote celebrities and influencers using sun umbrellas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is not wishful thinking. In a one survey<\/a> of women conducted from 2011 to 2012, 80% of nonusers indicated that a doctor\u2019s recommendation would make them consider using a sun umbrella. Seventy-one percent thought seeing more people using a sun umbrella would encourage them to actually use one. In the study, participants who viewed photographs of famous women using umbrellas for sun protection thought that they were more socially acceptable.<\/p>\n

The women surveyed were young: 31 was the mean age. Their main reasons for using a sun umbrella were to avoid wrinkles, protect their skin and, last, minimize the risk of skin cancer. The main reasons for not using a sun umbrella were the understandable desire to keep their hands free, the inconvenience of using one, and, significantly, not having thought about it before.<\/p>\n

As for me, a 63-year-old male living in sunny Texas whose parents had skin cancer, I\u2019ll keep embarrassing my kids by wearing my wide-brimmed dorky dad hat, slathering on the sun screen, donning long-sleeve shirts \u2013 and unfurling my portable umbrella when strolling under the sun.<\/p>\n

[ Deep knowledge, daily.<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Jonathan Coopersmith<\/a>, Professor of History, Texas A&M University <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Coopersmith, Texas A&M University Many of us apply sunscreen when we go to the beach. But walking outside under the fierce summer sun \u2013 even if it\u2019s to run a quick errand \u2013 can be taxing: We sweat, we get exhausted, we burn and we expose ourselves to dangerous UV rays. In Asian countries, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":17692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[1712,518,145,3439,839,365,6085,6840,2913,255],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17701,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695\/revisions\/17701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}