Life — April 17, 1913 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

**Top Left ("The Styles Were Reversed"):** Two fashionable figures illustrate gender role reversal—the man wears a top hat and monocle while adopting a feminine pose; the woman stands in masculine posture wearing an ornate gown. This mocks contemporary anxieties about changing gender norms, likely referencing the early 20th-century "New Woman" movement and women's suffrage activism. **Top Right ("Cherchez la Femme"):** A chaotic scene of children playing violently appears to depict street urchins or working-class youth engaged in rough play. **Bottom ("Child Labor Employer"):** A well-dressed man with a cigar instructs children to play with guns, calling it "a waste of human energy." This savage satire criticizes child labor exploitation and military militarism—the employer profits from children's labor while treating their potential for play/development as expendable. **"Seasonable Collect":** This acrostic poem satirizes various social types and political figures contemporary to the publication, mocking reformers, radicals, politicians, and lawyers indiscriminately.