The Wasp — 1894 — page 460: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon from *The Wasp* (June 9, 1894) depicts the start of summer beach season. The central figure is Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, shown with his traditional trident, positioned among women in bathing attire at the shoreline. The caption reads: "Old Neptune woos the seaside nymphs in killing bathing-suits." The joke appears to be a double entendre: the phrase "killing bathing-suits" suggests both that the fashionable bathing costumes are attractive/deadly (in a flirtatious sense) and possibly commentary on how restrictive or revealing women's swimwear of the 1890s was considered. Neptune's presence mythologically "wooing" the beachgoers sexualizes the bathing season as a social ritual where women display themselves. The humor relies on Victorian attitudes toward sexuality and seaside leisure.