The Wasp — 1894 — page 140: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains a satirical column titled "A Maid's Diary" alongside an illustration labeled "CHASING RED STOCKINGS." The cartoon depicts men pursuing women near the Pleasanton Hotel. The accompanying text describes young women in fashionable red stockings walking through muddy streets, attracting male attention and pursuit. The satire critiques two things: (1) the spectacle of fashionable women's clothing as public distraction, and (2) men's behavior in chasing after women based on appearance. The "red stockings" serve as a visible marker of modernity and style that draws unwanted male attention. This reflects early 20th-century tensions around women's changing fashion, public visibility, and respectability—themes common in *The Wasp*'s satirical commentary on San Francisco society.