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I think both. Apparently shaving under the arms wasn't popular in the U.S. until the 20-30's when  women started wearing flapper dresses that showed their arms off instead of the long sleeves they had been wearing so far. Also around when deodorant was becoming popular. My parents told me that when they lived in Germany most of the women didn't shave their legs yet when i was a teen in the U.S i was made fun of and bullied into shaving my legs and under my arms. Even to this day if i mention i haven't shaved my legs in a month or so, (especially in the winter) most people of both genders say "eww gross!". Which i always find bizarre because i'm wearing pants and they didn't notice in the first place, so why care about what i do with my covered up legs?   Plus i'm naturally blonde so it isn't very noticeable anyway, it seems to be the very idea of not shaving that bothers people even if they can't tell. Like its some sort of huge defiance on my part.  

Oh, and i'm assuming prostitutes in the U.S. of that era looked similar, perhaps more shapely/meaty. I did read that "back in the day" the only women who shaved their pubic hair were hookers that had diseases and crabs. They would shave and then wear a Merkin (pubic wig) to cover up sores. Pubic hair was the norm and expected.  Although i did hear shaving off pubic hair may have became popular here because it was popular in Asia for a while. Men wanted young child brides so older girls would remove the public hair to appear younger. Pubic hair has also been seen as "obscene" in their culture and often censored in their pornography. For a long time child porn was legal because they didn't have any public hair on them so it didn't need to be censored.  That's some sick ass logic there...