Life — May 18, 1911 — page 19: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon from *Life* magazine mocks an Episcopal clergyman's opposition to women's suffrage. The minister argues that voting would make women "masculine," revealing the absurdity of anti-suffrage rhetoric. The woman's witty retort—"It has never had that effect upon the clergy"—suggests that male clergy, despite voting rights, haven't become notably masculine themselves, undercutting his logic. The cartoon appears to date from the women's suffrage movement era (pre-1920), when such arguments were common. The satire targets both religious hypocrisy and the paternalistic attitudes of educated men who claimed to protect women by denying them political participation. The "somewhat superior" minister's pompous demeanor emphasizes the condescension suffragists faced from authority figures.