.jpg) Demonstrators from the National Women's Liberation Movement picketing the 1968 Miss America Pageant | |
| Date | September 7, 1968 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1 pm to 12 midnight |
| Venue | Miss America 1969 |
| Location | Atlantic City, New Jersey Boardwalk |
| Also known as | No More Miss America |
| Cause | Women's liberation |
| Target | Miss America 1969 |
| Organised by | New York Radical Women |
| Participants | New York Radical Women, Jeannette Rankin Brigade, National Organization for Women, American Civil Liberties Union |
The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included putting symbolic feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can" on the Atlantic City 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.[1][2]
Reporter Lindsy Van Gelder drew an analogy between the feminist protesters throwing bras in the trash cans and Vietnam War 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.[3]
- ^ Barbara J. Love (2006). Feminists who Changed America, 1963-1975. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03189-2.
- ^ Buchanan, Paul D. (July 31, 2011). Radical Feminists: A Guide to an American Subculture: A Guide to an American Subculture. ABC-CLIO. pp. 124–. ISBN 9781598843576. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
- ^ 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