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The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the
Miss America 1969 Miss America 1969, the 42nd Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 7, 1968 on NBC Network. Miss Illinois was the winner, Judith Ford performing on a trampoline during the talent competiti ...
contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by
New York Radical Women New York Radical Women (NYRW) was an early second-wave radical feminist group that existed from 1967 to 1969. They drew nationwide media attention when they unfurled a banner inside the 1968 Miss America pageant displaying the words "Women ...
and included putting symbolic feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can" on the
Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...
boardwalk, including bras, hairspray, makeup, girdles, corsets, false eyelashes, mops, and other items. The protesters also unfurled a large banner emblazoned with "Women's Liberation" inside the contest hall, drawing worldwide media attention to the
Women's Liberation Movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resulted in g ...
. Reporter Lindsy Van Gelder drew an analogy between the feminist protesters throwing bras in the trash cans and
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
protesters who burned their draft cards. The bra-burning trope was permanently attached to the event and became a catch-phrase of the feminist era.Heller, Karen. "The bra-burning feminist trope started at Miss America. Except, that's not what really happened." ''Washingtonpost.com'', 7 Sept. 2018. ''Academic OneFile''


Origins

The
New York Radical Women New York Radical Women (NYRW) was an early second-wave radical feminist group that existed from 1967 to 1969. They drew nationwide media attention when they unfurled a banner inside the 1968 Miss America pageant displaying the words "Women ...
was a group of women that had been active in the civil rights movement, the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...
, and
antiwar movement An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...
s. The group was organized in the fall of 1967 by former TV child star
Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...
,
Carol Hanisch Carol Hanisch (born 1942) is an American radical feminist activist. She was an important member of New York Radical Women and Redstockings. She is best known for popularizing the phrase " the personal is political" in a 1970 essay of the same ...
,
Shulamith Firestone Shulamith Bath Shmuel Ben Ari Firestone (born Feuerstein; January 7, 1945 – August 28, 2012) was a Canadian-American radical feminist writer and activist. She was a prominent figure in the early development of radical feminism and second-wave ...
, and Pam Allen. They were searching for a suitable way to draw attention to their movement. Hanisch said that she got the idea to target the Miss America contest after the group, including Morgan,
Kathie Sarachild Kathie Sarachild (born Kathie Amatniek; July 1943) is an American writer and radical feminist. In 1968, she took the last name "Sarachild" after her mother Sara. Kathie coined the phrase "Sisterhood is Powerful" in a flier she wrote for the keyn ...
,
Rosalyn Baxandall Rosalyn Baxandall ( Fraad; June 12, 1939 – October 13, 2015) was an American historian of women's activism and feminist activist. Early life and education Baxandall was born in New York City on June 12, 1939. Her father, Lewis M. Fraad, was ...
,
Alix Kates Shulman Alix Kates Shulman (born August 17, 1932) is an American writer of fiction, memoirs, and essays, and a prominent early radical activist of second-wave feminism. She is best-known for her bestselling debut adult novel, ''Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Qu ...
,
Patricia Mainardi Patricia "Pat" Mainardi (born November 10, 1942) is a leading authority on nineteenth-century European art and European and American modernism, and a pioneering professor of women's studies. Career and activism Pat Mainardi was part of the radical ...
,
Irene Peslikis Irene Peslikis (October 7, 1943 – November 28, 2002) was an American feminist artist, activist, and educator. She was one of the early founders and organizers in the women's art movement, especially on the east coast. Life and career Irene Pesli ...
, and
Ellen Willis Ellen Jane Willis (December 14, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic. A 2014 collection of her essays, ''The Essential Ellen Willis,'' received the Nationa ...
, watched the film '' Schmeerguntz'', which depicted how beauty standards oppressed women. It included clips of a Miss America parading in her swimsuit. "It got me thinking that protesting the pageant might be a good way to launch the movement into the public consciousness," Hanisch said. "Because up until this time, we hadn't done a lot of actions yet. We were a very small movement. It was kind of a gutsy thing to do. Miss America was this ' American pie' icon. Who would dare criticize this?" The group decided to incorporate the techniques successfully used by the civil rights movement and adapt it to the new idea of
women's liberation The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminism, feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resu ...
.


Purpose

In a letter on August 29, 1968, to the city mayor, Morgan requested a permit. She explained that the purpose of the protest was to demonstrate their objections to the pageant's focus on women's bodies over their brains, "on youth rather than maturity, and on commercialism rather than humanity".


Organizers and participants

In her letter requesting a permit, Morgan named the sponsor of the protest as "Women's Liberation", a "loose coalition of small groups and individuals". She was the key organizer of the protest. The advisory sponsor was
Florynce Kennedy Florynce Rae Kennedy (February 11, 1916 – December 21, 2000) was an American lawyer, radical feminist, civil rights advocate, lecturer, and activist. Early life Kennedy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Wiley Kennedy and Zella Rae Jackman ...
's Media Workshop, an activist group she founded in 1966 to protest the media's representation of
African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
. Other members of New York Radical Women were involved in protesting and documenting the event. Bev Grant, a musician and filmmaker / photographer with
Newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...
who took part in the protests, also shot film and took photos of the protests and of the pageant itself. Peggy Dobbins, a performer and activist, created a life-sized Miss America puppet which she displayed on the boardwalk in the guise of a carnival barker auctioning her off. Florika Remetier and Bonnie Allen were also symbolically chained to the puppet, with the chains representing those "that tie us to these beauty standards against our will". Participants also came from
National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
, the feminist
Jeannette Rankin Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as ...
Brigade and the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...
. Men were barred from taking part. The
press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...
for the event contained sentiments that resonated well beyond the movement, such as “Miss America is a walking commercial for the pageant's sponsors. Wind her up and she plugs your product…” and “last year she went to
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
to pep-talk our husbands, fathers, sons and boyfriends into dying and killing with a better spirit…"


Protest event


Atlantic City boardwalk

About 200 members of the group
New York Radical Women New York Radical Women (NYRW) was an early second-wave radical feminist group that existed from 1967 to 1969. They drew nationwide media attention when they unfurled a banner inside the 1968 Miss America pageant displaying the words "Women ...
traveled to Atlantic City in cars and chartered buses. On September 7, 1968, about 400 feminists from
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
,
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, and
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
gathered on the Atlantic City Boardwalk outside the
Miss America Pageant Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...
. They protested what they called "The Degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie Symbol" and American society's normative beauty expectations. They marched with signs, passed out pamphlets, including one titled ''No More Miss America'', and crowned a live sheep—comparing the beauty pageant to livestock competitions at
county fair An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhib ...
s, including an illustration of a woman's figure marked up like a side of beef.


Freedom Trash Can

They threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included mops, pots and pans, copies of ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...
'' and ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' magazines, false eyelashes, high-heeled shoes, curlers, hairspray, makeup,
girdle A belt without a buckle, especially if a cord or rope, is called a girdle in various contexts, especially historical ones, where girdles were a very common part of everyday clothing from antiquity until perhaps the 15th century, especially for w ...
s,
corset A corset /ˈkɔːrsɪt/ is a support garment worn to constrict the torso into the desired shape and Posture correction, posture. They are traditionally constructed out of fabric with boning made of Baleen, whalebone or steel, a stiff panel in th ...
s, and bras; items the protesters called "instruments of female torture" and accouterments of what they perceived to be enforced
femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...
. Protesters saw the pageant and its symbols as oppressing women. They decried its emphasis on an arbitrary standard of beauty. They were against the labeling, public worship and exploitation of the "most beautiful girl in America." Sarachild, one of the protest organizers, reported that "huge crowds gathered for the picketing. People were grabbing our fliers out of our hands."


Protest inside pageant

Along with tossing the items into the trash can and distributing literature outside, four protesters including
Kathie Sarachild Kathie Sarachild (born Kathie Amatniek; July 1943) is an American writer and radical feminist. In 1968, she took the last name "Sarachild" after her mother Sara. Kathie coined the phrase "Sisterhood is Powerful" in a flier she wrote for the keyn ...
and
Carol Hanisch Carol Hanisch (born 1942) is an American radical feminist activist. She was an important member of New York Radical Women and Redstockings. She is best known for popularizing the phrase " the personal is political" in a 1970 essay of the same ...
bought tickets and entered the hall. While the outgoing 1968 Miss America, Debra Barnes Snodgrass, was giving her
farewell speech A farewell speech or farewell address is a speech given by an individual leaving a position or place. They are often used by public figures such as politicians as a capstone to the preceding career, or as statements delivered by persons relating ...
, the women unfurled a bedsheet from the balcony that said "Women's Liberation" and began to shout " women's liberation!" and "No more Miss America!" They got out a half-dozen shouts before they were quickly removed by police. While TV cameras at the event didn't show them, newspapers all around the country covered the protest. "I think it kind of made the phrase 'women's liberation' a household term," Sarachild says. "The media picked up on the bra part," Hanisch said later. "I often say that if they had called us 'girdle burners,' every woman in America would have run to join us." Outgoing Miss America Snodgrass said that the protesters were diminishing the hard work of thousands of competitors who were attending school and had put a lot of effort into developing their talents.


Origin of "bra-burning"

The dramatic, symbolic use of a trash can to dispose of feminine objects caught the media's attention. Protest organizer Hanisch said about the Freedom Trash Can afterward, "We had intended to burn it, but the police department, since we were on the boardwalk, wouldn't let us do the burning." A story by Lindsy Van Gelder in the ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' carried a headline "Bra Burners and Miss America". Her story drew an analogy between the feminist protest and
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
protesters who burned their draft cards. Individuals who were present said that no one burned a bra nor did anyone take off her bra. However, respected author
Joseph Campbell Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of t ...
found a local news story reporting that articles were in fact burned, and a witness corroborating the news story. The article and the witness contradicted the feminists' statements, stating that lingerie was in fact burned at least briefly that day. An article on page 4 of the Atlantic City ''Press'' reported, "Bra-burners blitz boardwalk". It stated, "As the bras, girdles, falsies, curlers, and copies of popular women's magazines burned in the ''Freedom Trash Can'', the demonstration reached the pinnacle of ridicule when the participants paraded a small lamb wearing a gold banner worded ''Miss America.''" A second story in the same newspaper written by
Jon Katz Jon Katz (born August 8, 1947) is an American journalist, author, and photographer. He was a contributor to the online magazine ''HotWired'', the technology website ''Slashdot'', and the online news magazine ''Slate''. In his early career as an a ...
did not mention burning lingerie, but Campbell interviewed Katz. Katz, who was present that day, confirmed that bras and other items had been set on fire: "...the fire was small, and quickly was extinguished." The feminists insisted afterward that the story was wrong. Deborah J. Cohan, an associate professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort, believes that bra-burning has become negatively associated with feminism.


Historical precedent

The bra-burning
trope Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things in medi ...
echoed an earlier generation of feminists who called for burning corsets as a step toward liberation. In 1873 Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward wrote:


Backlash

Author and feminist Bonnie J. Dow suggested that the association between feminism and bra-burning was encouraged by individuals who opposed the feminist movement. "Bra-burning" created an image that women were not really seeking freedom from sexism, but were attempting to assert themselves as sexual beings. This might lead individuals to believe, as she wrote in her article "Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology", that the women were merely trying to be "trendy, and to attract men". Women associated with an act like symbolically burning their bra may be seen by some as law-breaking radicals, eager to shock the public. This view may have supported the efforts of opponents to feminism and their desire to invalidate the movement. Some feminist activists believe that anti-feminists use the bra-burning myth and the subject of going braless to trivialize what the protesters were trying to accomplish that day and the feminist movement in general. Joseph Campbell described the reaction that ensued as "serving to denigrate and trivialize the objectives of the women's liberation movement."


''No More Miss America protest !''

The protest planners produced a press release before the event that was afterward turned into a pamphlet titled ''No More Miss America!''. The pamphlet called on women to help "reclaim ourselves for ourselves". Written by
Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...
, it listed ten characteristics of the Miss America pageant that Morgan believed degraded women. Morgan wrote that the pageant contestants epitomize the "Degrading Mindless- Boob-Girlie Symbol". The
runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
parade is a metaphor of the
4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...
Club county fair, where the animals are judged for teeth, hair, grooming, and so forth, and where the best specimen is awarded the
blue ribbon Blue ribbons are typically a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Order of the Holy Spirit#Cordon Bleu, Cord ...
. Since its inception in 1921, only Caucasian contestants had been accepted as finalists, so the authors derided the contest as "Racism with Roses". They criticized the "cheerleader" tour taken by the winner to visit troops in foreign countries as "Miss America as Military Death Mascot". Her support of troops personifies the "unstained patriotic American womanhood our boys are fighting for". She wrote that Miss America is a walking commercial for the pageant's sponsors, making her a primary part of "The Consumer Con-Game". It deplored the win-or-you're-worthless competitive disease, which it described as "Competition Rigged and Unrigged". The authors criticized "The Woman as Pop Culture Obsolescent Theme", which they described as the promotion of women who are young, juicy, and malleable, but upon the selection of a new winner each year, are discarded. She compared the pageant to ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
s centerfold as sisters under the skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination". The writers accused the competition of encouraging women to be inoffensive, bland, and apolitical, ignoring characteristics like personality, articulateness, intelligence, and commitment. They called this "The Irrelevant Crown on the Throne of Mediocrity". The pamphlet said the pageant was "Miss America as Dream Equivalent To", positioning itself as the penultimate goal of every little girl, while boys were supposed to grow up and become
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
. Men are judged by their actions, women by appearance. Morgan wrote that the pageant attempted
thought control Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...
, creating the illusion of "Miss America as Big Sister Watching You". It attempted to enslave women in high-heeled, low-status roles, and to inculcate values in young girls like women as beasts of shopping. "No More Miss America!" was the very first public pamphlet of the time to share the movement's ideals; therefore, complaints about the Pageant, recorded in the pamphlet, outlined and predicted numerous problems these women might have to overcome in their battle for equality. The pamphlet became a source for feminist scholarship.


Legacy

A six-minute documentary, ''Up Against the Wall Miss America'' (1968), concerns the Miss America protest. The demonstration was largely responsible for bringing the women's liberation movement into the American national consciousness. The event "'marked the end of the movement's obscurity' and made both 'women's liberation' and beauty standards topics for national discussion".
Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...
designed the feminist symbol of a
raised fist The raised fist, or the clenched fist, is a long-standing image of mixed meaning, often a symbol of solidarity, especially with a political movement. It is a common symbol representing a wide range of political ideologies, most notably socialism, ...
within the
Venus symbol Planetary symbols are used in astrological symbol, astrology and traditionally in astronomical symbol, astronomy to represent a classical planet (which includes the Sun and the Moon) or one of the modern planets. The classical symbols were also use ...
for the protest, where it was popularized. "No more Miss America! Ten points of protest" was included in the 1970 anthology ''
Sisterhood is Powerful ''Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement'' is a 1970 anthology of feminist writings edited by Robin Morgan, a feminist poet and founding member of New York Radical Women. It is one of the first wid ...
'', edited by
Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...
.


Civil rights protest

Also on September 7, 1968, in Atlantic City, a separate civil rights demonstration took place in the form of a beauty pageant. African Americans and civil rights activists gather to crown the first Miss Black America. The winner, nineteen-year-old Philadelphia native Saundra Williams, had been active on the civil rights scene prior to the competition. As a student at Maryland State College, she helped organize the Black Awareness Movement with her classmates and staged a
sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
at a local restaurant, which refused to serve African Americans.Klemesrud, Judy. "There's Now Miss Black America". ''New York Times'', 8 Sep. 1968: 81. Print Born to a middle-class family, she aspired to a career in
social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
and
child welfare Child protection (also called child welfare) is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, abandonment, and neglect. It involves identifying signs of potential harm. This includes responding to allegations or suspicions ...
. She explained her motivation for running in the pageant:
Miss America does not represent us because there has never been a black girl in the pageant. With my title, I can show black women that they too are beautiful. ... There is a need to keep saying this over and over because for so long none of us believed it. But now we're finally coming around.
The competition, organized by civil rights activist J. Morris Anderson, was held at the Ritz Carlton a few blocks from
Convention Hall Convention Hall was a convention center in Kansas City, Missouri that hosted the 1900 Democratic National Convention and 1928 Republican National Convention. Construction, burning, and reconstruction It was designed by Frederick E. Hill and b ...
, where the Miss America pageant took place the same evening. The Miss Black America contestants, prior to competition, rode in a convertible motorcade through the streets of Atlantic City and were greeted with cheers and applause, especially from members of the black community.Curtiss, Charlotte. "Miss America Pageant is Picketed by 100 Women", New York Times 9 Sep. 1968: 54. Print. The Miss Black America protest and the NYRW protest were driven by fundamentally different motivation. NYRW protested the very idea of beauty standards and the pageant that upheld them. The Miss Black America protesters had no grievances with the idea of beauty standards, but with the fact that they strongly favored white women. While NYRW wanted to dismantle the whole idea of beauty, Miss Black America protesters wanted to expand notions of beauty to include all races.Kreydatus, Beth. “Confronting the 'Bra-Burners:' Teaching Radical Feminism with a Case Study". ''The History Teacher'' 41, no. 4 (2008): 489–504. . Feminist protester and organizer Robin Morgan said "We deplore Miss Black America as much as Miss White America but we understand the black issue involved."


See also

*
Feminist sex wars The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, sex wars or porn wars, are collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Differences of opinion on matters of sexual ...


References


External links

*
1960s Bra Burning
Video footage of protest {{Radical feminism, state=collapsed 1968 in New Jersey 1968 in women's history 1968 protests Feminism and history Feminism in New Jersey Feminist protests in the United States Events in Atlantic City, New Jersey History of women in New Jersey Miss America Protests in New Jersey Second-wave feminism in the United States September 1968 in the United States