The Wasp — 1894 — page 92: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts a gentleman and a woman in an interior domestic setting. The caption reads: "I'll have lunch of the Fair and take you to 'linner when I get back.' / 'Oh, no, you won't!' / 'What do you mean? I'm a gentleman!'" The joke appears to concern gender relations and contested social expectations. The woman rejects the man's presumed authority to dictate their plans, despite his claim to gentlemanly status. The title "Rushing to Ruin" suggests the cartoon satirizes anxieties about changing social dynamics between men and women—likely referencing contemporary debates about women's independence and the erosion of traditional male domestic authority during the 1890s.