Life, 1914-06-04 · page 15 of 52
Life — June 4, 1914 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mocks the early women's suffrage movement through a deliberately exaggerated first-person account of a self-absorbed feminist activist. The satire portrays her as: - **Emotionally unstable and performative**: engaging in dramatic fasting, manufactured hysteria, and constant introspection rather than substantive activism - **Self-contradictory**: claiming to sacrifice for her sisters while excluding men from benefits; fasting while eating beefsteaks - **Pretentious**: adopting pseudo-intellectual philosophy and obscure literary references to justify her behavior - **Hypocritical**: secretly despising her husband while maintaining false composure The accompanying cartoon and small comic about "votes for women" containing thirteen letters reinforce the joke: the suffragist movement is presented as trivial word-play and performative nonsense rather than serious political reform. The overall message is dismissive—the piece suggests female activists are emotionally unstable dilettantes rather than serious political agents. This reflects common anti-suffrage propaganda of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Confessions of a Feminist ] MUST be more introspective. I haven't dissected my soul now for three days. It only shows how care- less one may become. My emotional nature must find its gamut of expres- sion—yesterday I moved furniture all day, but that was not enough—my Gawd, that was not enough! I feel that I must commit some great sacrifice for my country. If I don't I shall go mad. But this terrible thought stares me in the face, that if I should succeed, the men would share in the benefit. No! It must not be. It must be only for my poor sisters. Last night I met Herr Nincompoop—a charming creature. He tells me he has succeeded in emancipating himself ut- terly from the mud-stage, or mascu- line strata. He is heyond all sex— how wonderful! oe 8 I am supremely happy this morning. Recently I read somewhere that only “WHAT'S THE MATTER ?” “HEAVENS! ‘VOTES FOR WOMEN’ CON- TAINS THIRTEEN LETTERS.” ss lh At WHO SAYS THAT THE MEN NEVER GIVE UP THEIR SEATS TO THE LADIFS? through fasting could the soul reach the higher plane. I have not tasted food for three days, except last night, a couple of beefsteaks and some buck- wheat cakes. It is impossible to con- vey any idea of my sublime sense of etherealization—wonderful, — wonder- ful, wonderful! eee Last night to an author’s reading. What heights! Miss Violet Hemstitch read her illuminative interpretation of a docrmat, in which materialism ut- terly vanished and the penumbra of dust became an ultimate reality. I could commit great crimes to-night— ah! If it were worth while. T have been enjoying myself secretly, loathing my husband. He does not know. That is as it should be. One should always rise above the mere vulgar expression of one’s inmost thoughts, His ignorance of my real feeling towards him gives me a grand calm—for the time. oe What a wonderful fit of hysterics I have had to-day! I had the strength of the presidents of fourteen woman's clubs. The soul of Nietzsche and Paul Verlaine both abided in me. I could feel the titanic struggle. And to think the world will never know! comicbooks.com