"Rational Costume"
Caption: The Vicar of St Winifred-in-the-Wold (to fair bicyclists). "It is customary for men, I will not say gentlemen, to remove their hats on entering a church!" Confusion of the Ladies Rota and Ixiona Bykewell.
This cartoon once again addresses androgynous representations of the New Woman, specifically through fashion choices. The vicar confuses the New Women, dressed in masculine biking clothes and positioned in confident masculine poses, as men—but not gentlemen. In this way, the cartoon manages to present the New Woman as existing in a liminal space between genders, not quite women or men, while also mocking their attempts to position themselves above men. However, it is interesting to note that the New Women in this cartoon stand noticeably taller than the vicar, physically looking down on the man and thus implying superiority.
Artist Unknown. “Rational Costume.” Cartoon. Punch Magazine. 13 June 1896. p. 282.