The Wasp — 1896 — page 488: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon mocks women's suffrage advocates by depicting two women on a pier in what appears to be Oakland (referenced as "City of Wheels"). The dialogue suggests one woman is an "angular girl" from Oakland, with the humor implying that only unmarried or unattractive women support voting rights. The joke trades on a common anti-suffrage argument: that women demanding political equality were somehow defective or undesirable—unable to attract husbands and thus pursuing public power as compensation. By framing suffragists as "old maids," the satire attempts to delegitimize women's political aspirations through personal mockery rather than engaging substantive arguments about democratic representation.