The Wasp — 1896 — page 440: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

The central cartoon features two rotund gentlemen in formal dress and top hats, with the caption: "What do you suppose it is that gives Miss Wasp's bloomers such peculiarly outward curves?" / "Think it's the 'New Woman.'" This is social satire about the "New Woman" of the 1890s-1900s—women gaining independence, education, and athletic pursuits. The joke mocks both the physical silhouette of women's bloomers (baggy cycling pants popular with active women) and suggests the wearer's expanding autonomy is somehow physically distorting her appearance. The cartoon ridicules male anxiety about women's emancipation, using bodily humor to express discomfort with female liberation. The "double convexity" refers to the rounded shape of the bloomers themselves, but implies larger social awkwardness.