It's common today to see young women and girls smoking cigarettes, but that hasn't always been the case. Cigarettes have been around for nearly two hundred years, but for the first hundred or so years it was considered scandalous and unladylike for a woman to smoke. Back then, it was extremely rare to see girls smoking cigarettes. Even though the cigarette was invented in 1832, and the first cigarette producing factory in America opened in the middle of the 19th century, to say that women smoking was frowned upon during these early years is putting it very mildly.

In fact, several states in America at one time or another have outlawed cigarettes altogether at various times in the early 20th century, so if a woman was seen smoking in one of those states, not only was she considered unladylike, she was also thought of as an outlaw. Gradually, the laws against smoking cigarettes were thrown out, but the taboo against women smoking stayed strong for decades. It just wasn't done among polite society, and it was extremely rare even among the lower classes. But that was all about to change, because of the almighty dollar.

Cigarette companies were making a mint off of selling cigarettes to men, but they realized that they could really get rich if they could entice women to start smoking, and they began aiming at the wide open female market. Believe it or not, the very first cigarettes marketed as a women's cigarette was the Marlboro. Yes, the very same brand that's now considered a macho cigarette after decades of the Marlboro Man. It debuted in 1902 with a red tip to hide lipstick stains, but it was a flop.

A few years later though, in 1927, women finally began smoking in large numbers. Much of this growth was directly attributable to one company, Lucky Strike, which had the slogan "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" as their main ad campaign, which was aimed at women. From there, the practice really took off, and movies especially helped girls smoking cigarettes to be considered more acceptable.

Thankfully, these days, there's quite a backlash against cigarette smoking, and you see fewer and fewer young ladies and girls smoking cigarettes. It's great to see that change happening, but how many lives would have been saved over the last 100 years if it the "unladylike" stigma had stuck?

Men and women agree that smoking is a dangerous, disgusting habit. But how do you quit? Find out how others have quit smoking for good!

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