Life, 1913-02-20 · page 13 of 48
Life — February 20, 1913 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page mocks the emerging Women's Suffrage Movement by presenting six caricatured "types" of husbands supposedly threatened by women's rights activism. The cartoon accompanies an article titled "To All Husbands," which sarcastically proposes a "Husbands' Alliance"—a defensive union to combat wives' demands for equality. The six portraits represent stereotypical male anxieties: the haunted husband, the deceived husband, and others experiencing domestic discord. The satire suggests husbands feel emasculated or threatened by women organizing for political and economic rights. The accompanying text ridicules women's suffrage as a destabilizing force while ironically framing husbands as an oppressed class needing collective protection—inverting actual power dynamics to delegitimize women's legitimate grievances about domestic wrongs and economic inequality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
GALLERY OF HUSBANDETTES 1, The haunted husband, Afraid to call his soul his own. 2. The husband nts when he wants it thinks she believes it. who wants what he 3. The husband who lies to his wife and s 4. “When that little deal goes through.” 6. Averages three nights a week with the boys—placates his wife with flowers. Stands a whole lot of nagging up to a certain point—then—fire-works! To All Husbands ECENTLY the housewives in prominent cities all over this country have organized for the purpose of having some of their domestic wrongs righted. The authors have also formed a combination in restraint of trade, and hereafter the prices of all manuscripts will be regulated according to a fixed scale. The authors will also work only eight hours a day. All husbands are hereby notified to enter into a pro- tective and mutually defensive union to be called the “ Husbands’ Alliance.” Every husband who has a grievance will be asked to become a member. This :neans that every married man in the country will join The Woman's Suffrage Movement will be summarily dealt with. The Husbands’ Alliance wil! be comprehensive in scope and will deal directly with some of the evils and abuses that have crept into our homes. All millinery establishments will be investigated and the facts brought out. One of the great reforms will be the personal super- vision of all wives who enter department stores. These are some of the cardinal points in the reform measures which will be instituted by the Husbands’ Alli- ance. Every large city will be represented and a grand meet- ing will take place in the fall The time has come when this down-trodden class shall at last assert its rights. Husbands, are you ready? comicbooks.com