Votes & Petticoats

This postcard is pro-suffrage, showing a man supporting a woman in the vote for women. On the side, the message reads: “Here’s mine for the candidate I have selected for my Valentine!”

This is an anti-suffrage postcard  featuring a pretty girl sewing.  Her submissive pose and activity are typical of a good wife engaged in domestic work. The text supports the meaning of the illustration, stating that women's duty is within the home.  Since it’s a “St. Valentine’s Greeting” card, perhaps it was used by anti-suffrage men to send to their ideal potential wife?

This postcard has the same character as the previous one and is drawn by the same artist. However, it presents a pro-suffrage message as the cute child says “love me, love my vote." Commercial postcard manufacturers did not want to lose costumers, so they created content to appeal to both  pro- and anti-suffrage buyers.

This postcard features what would have been a shocking and hilarious sight in early 20th century America: a  lady proposing to a man, a clear violation of the social norms of the times. This is an anti-suffrage postcard because of the gender reversal, which was often used in arguments against women gaining political power. Also, the words “And don’t you dare, Sir, to refuse me” sound unreasonable and coercive.

The postcard presents an image of a little girl in a police suit and armed with a rolling pin. The rolling pin was aften used to symbolize suffragists as violent women. The postcard appears to convey an anti-suffrage message as the wording is threatening and forceful, especially the lines: “for you’ve stolen my heart, and you shouldn’t go free.”