Judge — August 9, 1919 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Feminine Angle" This cartoon satirizes early 20th-century debates about women's comportment and fashion. The left panel shows a woman sitting with proper posture while reading, labeled "The First Mate." The right panel shows the same woman sitting with legs crossed or sprawled, described as adopting a "rakish angle." The accompanying text mocks the "First Mate" (likely her husband) for complaining that his wife's casual sitting position makes her "look like a pirate" and is difficult to correct. The cartoon appears to critique both rigid masculine expectations about female decorum and the growing informality of women's public behavior—satirizing how minor changes in women's deportment could provoke exaggerated masculine concern about propriety and respectability.