Yes, though I think the freedom really only started with WW1, when women were given men's work to do in the factories. That led to the roaring twenties, and from there, well, youtube videos of homosexuals sticking objects up their arse.
But you are right. Male and female expectations were much more realistic. They were not bombarded with perfect, airbrushed images of the opposite sex (and same sex, for added neuroticism) as we are now, nor the sexual knowledge (nor expectations) that plagues both sexes. Considerations were much more mundane, such as emotional stability, diligence, reliability, a pretty smile, vaguely dashing. Similarly, there was not the pressure to be perfect oneself. There was not the illusion of "endless choice" promoted in the culture, and people met regularly en masse for recreation e.g. my grandmother met my grandfather at the dancing, where the entire town's unmarried under 25s would go on a Saturday night.
Having said that, people often set themselves up for marriages of misery, as young people married without having a clue about themselves or life, and yoked themselves often to someone who felt as regretful/resentful for the wrongness of the match. I'm thinking of my own relatives' stories as I say this. So I think we have to be careful and not fall into nostalgia. But I wish the institution of "the dancin'" was back for the young.
