The Wasp — 1895 — page 668: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon from *The Wasp* depicts a museum exhibit titled "Curiosities," with admission at 50 cents. A woman on a bicycle observes a display case containing "A Woman A.D. 1895"—treating modern women as oddities worthy of exhibition. Below, another case displays "Adolphus, the Last Major of San Francisco, Beaten 1896 by a Bloomer Candidate"—referencing a San Francisco mayoral election where a female candidate (in "bloomers," the controversial split-skirt women's fashion) defeated the incumbent. The cartoon satirizes both the novelty of emerging women's rights (voting, cycling, practical clothing) and the anxiety men felt about female political empowerment. It's mocking both the display of women as curiosities and the defeat of traditional male political authority.