Harassment prevention in 1910s
Thanks to Natalie Teeple’s invention, women riding public transportation in the 1910s had the means to give a sharply pointed response if “mashers” pressed up against them. “It is well known that rude and flirtatious youths and men, ‘mashers’, frequently avail themselves of the crowded condition of cars and other means of transportation to annoy and insult ladies next whom they may happen to be seated by pressing a knee or thigh against the adjacent knee or thigh of their feminine neighbour, who, as often happens is too timid or modest to create a disturbance by calling attention to the fact. It is the object of my invention to guard against undue familiarity of the character designated by the provision of means whereby the offender is automatically warned, punished, and deterred from persistent offence; and to this end my invention consists primarily of an elastic resilient spring arranged in conjunction with a spur or prick and adapted to be attached to an under-skirt in such manner that when subjected to extraneous pressure the sharp point will protrude.”
Unusual find in da club
