University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. Click to enlarge
So you thought Valentine’s Day was all about candy and flowers? During the early twentieth century, when women’s suffrage was a hotly debated topic in America, even this seemingly apolitical holiday sparked satire.
In this 1907 anti suffrage postcard, the artist shows a suffragette in a disheveled looking outfit, with an ill fitting coat, an asymmetrical skirt, and a lot of leg showing. Is the implication that if suffragettes dressed better, they might get more support. Although the figure has on a skirt, her hat, coat and big pin make me think that Dr. Mary Walker might have been the inspiration.
It’s really strange that so much of her leg is showing. So unfeminine!