Life — October 13, 1921 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Fatal Gift of Beauty" by Agnes Repplier This satirical article critiques the American obsession with beauty contests during World War I. Repplier mocks the "Bathing Beauties" contests—illustrated publications featuring young women judged for attractiveness—as frivolous and contradictory. While soldiers, doctors, and ambulance drivers served Europe, Americans appointed beauty judges to crown "fairest mermaids" and "most beautiful girls." The accompanying cartoon shows two women in conversation. The caption reveals the joke: Flora asks what's better than marrying one's ideal; Dora replies, "Marrying some other girl's, I suppose"—a cynical comment on female competition and the shallow values the contests promoted. Repplier argues such contests distract from serious wartime concerns and reduce women to decorative objects.