The Wasp — 1894 — page 112: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration satirizes San Francisco social life and female behavior. Two women in a bedroom discuss social events: one warns her companion "Maud" against sitting too close to the window while undressed, cautioning that "that old masher in the Pleasanton Hotel will fix his opera-glasses on you." The joke targets: 1. **Male voyeurism** — wealthy men using opera glasses to spy on women from nearby buildings 2. **Female vanity and risk-taking** — women's apparent willingness to expose themselves despite such dangers 3. **Social pretension** — references to the upscale Pleasanton Hotel and "muscle dance" at the Midwinter Fair The caption's tone suggests the cartoon mocks both genders: predatory male behavior and women's paradoxical mix of modesty and exhibitionism. It reflects 1890s anxieties about urban privacy and class interaction.