Life — April 13, 1911 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Husbands' Correspondence Bureau" - Life Magazine Satire This page satirizes a fictional service claiming to scientifically categorize wives into twenty-eight personality types for husband-wife compatibility. The illustrations show humorous "wife types" with labels like "Homer" (domestic, naive), "Highbrow" (intellectual), and "Hugger" (affectionate/clingy). The satire mocks both pseudoscientific matrimonial matchmaking services popular in the early 20th century and rigid gender stereotyping. By reducing wives to standardized categories based on appearance and behavior, the article absurdly suggests marriages can be "scientifically" managed. The cartoons exaggerate each type's defining characteristics—the Homer as simple homemaker, the Highbrow as pretentious book-reader—to ridicule the premise that complex human personalities fit neat classifications.