Under the Weather

Under the Influence Dept.

As I wrote here one week ago, I have the flu and "I don't feel much like doing anything including blogging, so this blog will be absent for a few days until this blows over."

I've got to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time, but I am still suffering from the symptoms of the flu.

I sleep a lot and I mean A LOT! Yet, I still feel tired all my waking hours. So this is going to take longer than I expected to get over.

Anyway, thank you for all your comments and e-mails expressing your concerns about my health.

Under Cover Dept.

"Sébastien Lifshitz has spent years trawling through flea markets, eBay and junk shops in an effort to trace the history of Europe’s cross-dressing culture. Now, his incredible collection is going on display at London’s Photographers Gallery."

Read and see about it here.

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

English POWs in German camp (Source: Sebastian Lifshitz)

Flu

The flu symptoms started Thursday morning. By Friday evening, I felt so lousy that my daughter took me to the ER.

The ER diagnosed me as having the flu (first time in my adult life that I have had the flu), wrote me a prescription and sent me home.

My temp is normal this morning, but I still feel lousy. And I don't feel much like doing anything including blogging, so this blog will be absent for a few days until this blows over.

Valentine's Day Greeting

I have posted this image here on Saint Valentine's Days in the past. I don't recall where I found the image, nor do I recall its history. I don't believe it's a fake, rather I think it's a genuine vintage greeting card.

That being said, what is the context of the card's message? My guess it was related to women's suffrage.

During that era, there was a genuine fear among males that if women got the vote it was the beginning of the end of the patriarchy. That fear was reflected in ephemera of the era.

The big question on everybody's mind 100 years ago was asked by this anti-suffrage postcard.

Another postcard answered the question.

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Faye's "bird" femulation

Before and After

I am not sure what was the original intention of this early 20th Century postcard.

It follows the theme of the anti-suffrage propaganda, that is, if women got the right to vote, it would lead to a gender role reversal.

But the postcard makes no reference to the suffrage movement. So  is it anti-marriage propaganda or simply a joke about the state of harried married males?

In any case, the male’s femulation is disappointing.

P.S. The woman in the before and after scenarios looks like the same woman, but the male looks different. In addition to wearing a dress, he looks shorter and has a mustache in the "after" scene.