The Average American Woman in 1908

Charles Merriles wrote a three-part article for Physical Culture Magazine entitled "The Average Woman" which ran from the July – September 1908 issues. He offers a scathing indictment against the average woman as being generally disproportioned, out of shape and defective.

Today a chauvinistic article like Merriles wrote would be savagely attacked and he would probably be apologizing on social media. But this was 1908 and it was very much a man’s world...