The More Things Change…


The More They Stay The Same. This is particularly true when it comes to women’s rights. There were some comments on the anti-suffrage card used in Nag, Nag, Naggin’ into Government. A common theme heard now is that women don’t want equality, they want dominance. A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that equality is simply not achievable, it must be case of domination, and the thought of women being the ones on top is particularly terrifying to many men. This was a very common theme in anti-suffrage postcards, one could say it was the dominant theme. Men are pictured doing housework, and horror of horrors, taking care of their children. This nonsense is still bandied about, and all too often you’ll see or hear a reference to a man babysitting for a day – yet the children being cared for are his own. Parents are supposed to take care of their children, and this does apply to men too. Really. Another common theme was just how gosh darn ugly those suffragists were. Unfortunately, that anti-feminism sentiment is still alive and well.

So, in the category of yep, still happening, a sampling of anti-suffrage cards, most under the fold. There are many more to be seen at all the given links.

The card reads: This is “THE HOUSE” that man built, and these are a few of the Ladies of Fame anxious to write M.P. after their name, with each sex on a par, why put up the bar? For M.P. means either Mama or Papa, quoth the sweet suffragette we’re entitled to get into “THE HOUSE” that man built.

The poster reads:
“The Morning Suffragette Bulletin.
A New Era of Prosperity at Hand.
With the news that a suffragette has been elected as our next presidentess, several flatiron and rolling pin factories have resumed on full time.
It is stated that 10,000,000 faltirons have been ordered by the new War Department alone.”

The card reads: THE MASCULINE WOMAN

She is mannish from shoes to her hat, Coat, collars, stiff shirt and cravat. She’d wear pants in the street to make her complete, but she knows the law won’t stand for that.

Comments

  1. says

    Oh my god, men behaving like women (i.e. doing some fucking chores), women behaving like men(i.e. having some fun)!
    Reminds me of a “conversation” I had with my father in law on Sunday. He loves to “jokingly” break out the “old days”. As I was tying my boots to walk back home through the snow, he commented on how a decent woman couldn’t wear such shoes* when he was younger.
    Of course, back then the “decent women” needed to stay home when the weather got bad.

    *Now, I’ll give him that while his “humour” is tiring, he doesn’t actually believe that shit. He’s pretty proud of his power tool wielding daughter in law.

  2. Ogvorbis: Swimming without a parachute. says

    I guess I really do have to turn in my manly-man card. I cook. I sometimes do dishes. I clean. I put the seat down. I changed diapers. I fed the kids (when they were very young). I let Wife leave the house without a chaperone. I even bake pies and breads (just made some really nice Stollen (even made the almond paste filling myself (and I think I killed the attachment gears on the mixer))). Wife even has a job — she works a street corner.

    Sigh. I guess that I’ll have to stop voting Republican.

  3. says

    Joseph @ 5:

    Oh yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_trousers

    Here in Ustates:

    Women were not allowed to wear trousers on the U.S. Senate floor until 1993. In 1993, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Carol Moseley Braun wore trousers onto the floor in defiance of the rule, and female support staff followed soon after, with the rule being amended later that year by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Martha Pope to allow women to wear pants on the floor so long as they also wore a jacket.

    And women like Katharine Hepburn and Marlena Dietrich wore pants and men’s suits, in defiance of the law. They could have been arrested for doing so.

  4. silverfeather says

    That man with the rolling pin and the baby really should smile. He could light up the whole room if he’d keep sweet.

  5. Roj Blake says

    A common theme heard now is that women don’t want equality, they want dominance.

    I guess when you have always been a dominator then that is how you would see any threat to your dominance. A dictator can never share power, just see Trumplethinskin as an example.

    And what a sin for a woman to never fulfill her destiny by marrying. More Roy Moores would have ensured that the Little Pet would never have progressed to coquette, let alone spinster. :-).

  6. busterggi says

    Can someone please tell me why that guy in the cartoon is screwing a lightbulb into the baby’s mouth?

  7. chigau (違う) says

    The more I look at Pantalette Suffragette, the more I want that outfit.
    Not the heels, but I could manage a nice pair of flat dancing slippers.

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