Judge — January 30, 1926 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "A Street Scene, As It Looks to a Very Modest Man" This cartoon satirizes the 1920s fashion trend of women wearing shorter skirts and more revealing clothing. The exaggerated perspective shows a modest or prudish man surrounded by women whose legs dominate his field of vision—their limbs appear enormous compared to his diminished figure cowering in the center. The joke targets conservative attitudes about women's fashion during this era. The "Roaring Twenties" saw dramatic shifts in women's dress codes, which shocked traditional observers. By literally enlarging the women's legs while shrinking the "modest man," the cartoonist humorously illustrates how threatening or overwhelming such fashion changes appeared to puritanical sensibilities. The urban setting with tall buildings establishes a modern city context, emphasizing generational conflict over changing social norms.