Life — May 6, 1920 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts a horse dealer examining a horse with three gentlemen customers. The dealer is enthusiastically praising the animal's physique, calling attention to its "form" and declaring he'd marry any woman built similarly. The satire compares evaluating a horse to evaluating a woman—both supposedly judged primarily on physical attributes and body structure. This reflects period attitudes treating women as objects to be assessed for breeding or aesthetic purposes, much like livestock. The joke relies on the crude comparison between animal and female evaluation, treating it as humorously equivalent. This represents early 20th-century satirical commentary on misogyny and the objectification of women, presented here through the vehicle of a horse-trading scene.