Judge — May 20, 1916 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A Shock-Absorber" - Judge, May 20, 1916 This cartoon satirizes women's fashion and social behavior. On the left, a shocked elderly woman (drawn with exaggerated features suggesting she's meant to represent conservative attitudes) reacts in horror to two young women on the right wearing short, striped bathing suits—scandalous attire for 1916. The title "A Shock-Absorber" is a pun: the young women's casual acceptance of revealing swimwear "absorbs" or neutralizes the elderly woman's scandalized reaction. The cartoon mocks generational conflict over changing fashion standards, particularly women's increasing willingness to expose legs and arms in public. It captures early-20th-century anxiety about shifting social morality and female liberation from Victorian dress codes.