Life — June 12, 1913 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Scarlet Letter" - Life Magazine Satire This political cartoon satirizes women's suffrage activism during a wartime period. The illustration shows two figures on a platform above a crowd of raised hands—likely depicting suffragettes demanding voting rights while men are away fighting. The accompanying text mocks this timing, with dialogue suggesting that demanding "women's rights" during wartime is inappropriate ("hopping mad at that? That is how the war began"). The satire implies that women should wait until after the war ends to pursue political equality. The title "The Scarlet Letter" references Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel about social condemnation, suggesting the suffragettes are being marked as troublemakers for pressing their cause during national crisis. This represents anti-suffrage sentiment common during WWI.