Judge — May 23, 1925 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Judge Magazine Cover Analysis (May 23, 1925) This cover illustrates "Her Roll Top Desk," showing a stylishly dressed woman of the 1920s seated at work. The image satirizes the modern working woman—a relatively recent social phenomenon in the 1920s. Her fashionable cloche hat, bobbed hair, and sophisticated pose suggest the "New Woman" of the Jazz Age who increasingly entered the workforce. The satire likely mocks either the pretensions of female office workers or critiques workplace dynamics. The roll-top desk (a standard office fixture) paired with her elegant presentation suggests tension between professional ambition and feminine style—a common comedic theme when women's workplace participation was still novel and socially contentious. The cartoon reflects 1920s anxieties about changing gender roles.