The Wasp — 1888 — page 506: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1888 *Wasp* cartoon satirizes San Francisco's moral corruption, personified as an elegantly dressed woman displaying various vices like wares. The figure wears a pointed hat and provocative outfit while presenting framed illustrations labeled "NOW ON EXHIBITION"—including "The Minis [sic] Tar Who Robbed His Church," "The Pat Title [sic]," "The Double Jointed Liar," "The Uncaught Burglar," and "The Unhung Murderer." The cartoon's central message, emphasized by the title, questions whether vice has become acceptable or desirable in the city. The woman's fashionable presentation and the museum-like display format suggest vices are being normalized, commodified, and even celebrated rather than condemned. This reflects contemporary concerns about urban moral decay and corruption in Gilded Age San Francisco.