Life, 1917-12-06 · page 59 of 92
Life — December 6, 1917 — page 59: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical story mocks the emerging threat of female economic independence. Beatrice, a woman who has successfully organized an Insurance Presidents' Union and secured the company presidency, represents the "New Woman" of the early 20th century—professionally ambitious and economically powerful. The young man's strategy exposes the satire's target: despite women's actual business success, traditional gender roles remain socially dominant. He needs do nothing but appear attractive; the male directors automatically prefer him, and he assumes Beatrice's "natural" role is domestic service as his wife. The joke's bitter irony: a woman's hard-won professional achievement evaporates instantly when confronted with conventional sexism dressed as "nature." The "silent revolution" reversed is that patriarchal assumptions overpower women's genuine accomplishments. The "Present Version" coda—where a man compliments a woman by saying she looks good enough to eat—reinforces that women are valued primarily as objects, not professionals.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
had organized an Insurance Presidents’ Union; also for the purpose of putting a prohibitive tariff on foreign material. One insurance company had secured a charming young French girl, and had doubled its business in six months, But this sort of thing had been stopped. The tariff had been arranged, and things were on a stable business basis. Beatrice, at the head of the union, was proud of her success. One day, however, as she passed out of the building, she saw a tall, handsome young man getting his shoes polished at the stand. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “As I sat here,” replied the young man, “it occurred to me that I might get the presidency of your company. You see, every insurance president is Christmas Life CULINARY TIE FLYING CORPS OF THE HOME GUARDS a woman now, and as most of your policy-holders are women in business, I believe that the time has come to put handsome young men like myself in as presidents.” “And what do you propose to do about it?” “Nothing,” said the young man, haughtily, “I shall simply wait here until the directors pass by. They will see me and send for me.” “You realize, of cours T haven't what this means to me. le to save a cent out of my salary, And now, if I am thrown out of my posi- tion, I will starv At this moment the directors filed , whispering to each other. Beatrice zed instantly that her day was i re over. The young man smiled. 955 “Not at all,” he replied. “ You see, my dear little girl, you can marry me. I need someone to do my cooking and housekeeping. Thus you will be able to round out your life in getting an experience hitherto foreign to you. Nature never makes a mistake. It's just about time that all you young girls were getting around to the main busi- ness of life, anyway.” At this moment the bell rang, sum- moning him to his new place. Another silent revolution had been accompfished. Present Version . TELLA: Did he pay you a com- pliment? Betta: Yes, he said I looked sweet enough not to eat. comicbooks.com