The Wasp — 1893 — page 510: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This appears to be a humor column by "Tabitha Twiggs" mocking unmarried women and their social anxieties in what seems to be San Francisco society. The piece satirizes female fashion obsessions (bathing suits, hats, dresses) and female vanity generally. It includes pointed jabs at women's preoccupation with appearance and men—particularly older unmarried women's desperation ("weak eyes," being told by a man she has "eyesight failing"). There's also criticism of women's participation in supposedly frivolous pursuits (watching fashionable crowds, attending social events). The tone is mocking rather than sympathetic—treating unmarried women as objects of ridicule for their vanity and romantic anxieties. The accompanying illustrations show women in period dress in various social situations, reinforcing the satirical commentary on female social behavior and fashion.