Judge — June 30, 1917 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes early 20th-century courtship etiquette and female autonomy. A young woman (presumably the niece) asks her aunt for permission regarding physical affection with a suitor named Clarence. The aunt's response—that she shouldn't allow it *if he asked permission*—is paradoxical and witty social commentary. The joke critiques the era's rigid romantic conventions: the aunt implies that proper courtship requires the man to act without explicit consent, yet seeking permission would demonstrate excessive politeness that undermines masculine confidence. The cartoon mocks both the formality of the period and the contradictory expectations placed on romantic interactions—damned if you ask, damned if you don't. It presents the absurdity of these unspoken social rules governing Victorian/Edwardian courtship behavior.