Life — May 5, 1921 — page 31: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon by C. Allan Gilbert depicting a generational clash about courtship and morality. A mother lectures her daughter Ethel about the dangers of flirting, claiming authority based on her own past experience. The daughter's response—suggesting her current flirting provides her with equivalent "experience"—is the joke's punchline. The satire targets the hypocrisy of Victorian-era mothers who cautioned daughters against behavior they themselves had engaged in. The daughter's cheek implies the mother's lecturing lacks credibility given her admitted history. The cartoon mocks both the mother's self-righteousness and the daughter's boldness in calling out this contradiction.