Life — April 13, 1916 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon addresses early 20th-century marriage customs. The title "Do Women Propose?" presents a scenario involving two contrasting male types: Mr. Wooden (the tall, serious man on left) and his friend Chubb (the portly, cheerful man on right). The joke appears to hinge on marital preferences: Wooden desires a "tall, serious wife" while Chubb wants a "cheery little woman." The cartoon likely satirizes rigid gender roles and marriage expectations of the era, when women were generally expected to be passive recipients of proposals rather than active participants. The accompanying illustrations show elegantly dressed couples, suggesting upper-class courtship conventions. The satire probably mocks how men's predetermined "types" don't match reality, or questions whether women had any agency in these arrangements despite societal assumptions about gender and marriage.