Life, 1911-11-02 · page 17 of 56
Life — November 2, 1911 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the early women's suffrage and feminist movements through mock-serious rhetoric. The text announces a fake "Grand Congress of Husbands" featuring international delegates, ostensibly to combat "the threatened dominance of women" and restore male "supremacy." The satire works by inverting reality: the author presents husbands as an organized, coordinated force "quietly arming themselves" against women's liberation, when in fact women were the marginalized group fighting for basic rights. The absurdist proposal (meeting on "Hoboken Heights" since Madison Square Garden is unavailable) and the overwrought language about male "mental renaissance" mock both anti-feminist rhetoric and the contemporary women's movement itself. The bottom cartoon depicts men struggling to transport framed pictures—likely representing art or cultural works—suggesting the disarray that supposedly results from women's advancing influence. The piece reflects Life's satirical stance on gender politics circa this era, using ridicule to comment on these social tensions.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE- 759 ERALLY WHAT WE MAKE 11 Currency Experts How can you tell a currency expert if you see one How can you tell how much he knows or whether what he knows is so? Apparently there were no currency experts worthy of the name when our present arrange- ments were adopted, for, in all the broad land at this moment, they have no defender. Even the chief bene- ficiaries thereof declare them to be unscientific. How can we know that the experts who want to change the currency are experts? Experts in other lines, such as doctors, lawyers, etc. go through some prescribed mill and come out at the other end with diplomas. For a man to have a diploma doesn’t prove that he knows anything, but at least it entitles him to a hearing. Why not prescribe a course of study and a State examination for currency ex- perts? That would, at least, give us the customary ortho- dox starting point. Grand Uprising of Husbaads It Will Take Place This Year on Hoboken Heights— Delegates from All Parts of the Known World— premacy of Women Will Be Forever Checked—Exery Wife Interested—Provisions Made for Women—The End of Feminine Dominance in Sight WING to the iact that Madison Square Garden is no longer available, our patrons will meet this autumn on Hoboken Heights, a suitable tract of ground on that historic eminence having been secured. This year there will be a Grand Congress of Husbands, international in character, the main idea being the general uplifting of husbands throughout the known world. In addition to the ordinaty European countries, we expect delegates from Abyssinia, the Sandwich Islands, Green- land, Patagonia, Constantinople, Tokio and Polynesia. The results we hope to secure are the brotherhood of man and his continued (and kindly) supremacy over woman. While we believe that we may confidently assert that we have established a reputation for, true modesty which no amount of calumny can destroy, we wish to state that the object which we have looked forward to ever since the Husbands’ Correspondence Bureau was established was to combat the situation which has recently assumed such pro- portions; we refer, of course, to the threatened dominance of women. Being many years ahead of the times, we have for a long time looked forward quietly to this situation; we knew that it was coming, and we felt very strongly that some one with genius cnough to control it would be neces- sary at the critical time, in order to save the human race. From this time forward, the Husbands’ Correspondence Bureau expects to become the leading factor in human progress. The woman's movement, while interesting and in a sense amusing, has no terrors for us, Our machine is now too well perfected. Our silent power has been ex- erting itself in every household. There has been a mental renaissance among all husbands, who have been quietly arming themselves. It should be thoroughly understood, AFTER THE EXHIBITION “ PICTURES WILL BE RETURNED TO THE ARTISTS FREE OF EXPENSE " comicbooks.com