Life — October 19, 1893 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "A One-Sided Virtue" — Life Magazine, October 19, 1893 This cartoon satirizes female hypocrisy regarding modesty and propriety. The scene shows a woman in elaborate dress turning away when men approach, as if offended by their presence. The caption's dialogue mocks this performance: she claims virtue and modesty ("turned her back"), yet she has "just come out" and is "honest and retiring"—while her fashionable, attention-getting appearance contradicts her supposed desire for privacy. The joke targets late-Victorian upper-class women who performed exaggerated modesty while simultaneously displaying themselves through expensive clothing and public appearances. "One-sided virtue" suggests her morality operates selectively—modest only when convenient or for appearance's sake. The satire critiques the gap between professed values and actual behavior among society's elite.