Miss America protest
Encyclopedia
The September 1968 protest by feminists outside of the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey was largely responsible for bringing the term "Women's Liberation" into the American national consciousness. The group was led by former television child star Robin Morgan
and attended also by Kathie Sarachild, Carol Hanisch, Alix Kates Shulman
, and other radical feminists from New York
, Florida, Boston, Detroit, and New Jersey.
They placed what they designated a "freedom trash can" on the Atlantic City boardwalk and threw into various items that they believed to be instruments of female oppression, including bras, girdles, high-heeled shoes, and issues of Playboy
, and Cosmopolitan
. Contrary to popular belief, the protesters followed Atlantic City fire regulations and did not burn the contents of the trash can.
Nonetheless, the women have been mythologized as bra burners. The women also crowned a sheep, carried signs, and chanted slogans. At the end of the pageant, while the newly crowned Miss America was walking down the runway, protesters who had managed to get into the auditorium unfurled a banner from the balcony that read "Women's Liberation".
Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan is a former child actor turned American radical feminist activist, writer, poet, and editor of Sisterhood is Powerful and Ms. Magazine....
and attended also by Kathie Sarachild, Carol Hanisch, Alix Kates Shulman
Alix Kates Shulman
Alix Kates Shulman is an American writer of fiction, memoirs, and essays, as well as one of the early radical feminist activists of feminism's Second Wave...
, and other radical feminists from New York
New York Radical Women
New York Radical Women was an early second-wave feminist group that existed from 1967–1969.NYRW was founded in New York City in the fall of 1967, by Shulamith Firestone and Pam Allen. Early members included: Ros Baxandall, Carol Hanisch, Patricia Mainardi, Robin Morgan, Irene Peslikis, Kathie...
, Florida, Boston, Detroit, and New Jersey.
They placed what they designated a "freedom trash can" on the Atlantic City boardwalk and threw into various items that they believed to be instruments of female oppression, including bras, girdles, high-heeled shoes, and issues of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, and Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
. Contrary to popular belief, the protesters followed Atlantic City fire regulations and did not burn the contents of the trash can.
Nonetheless, the women have been mythologized as bra burners. The women also crowned a sheep, carried signs, and chanted slogans. At the end of the pageant, while the newly crowned Miss America was walking down the runway, protesters who had managed to get into the auditorium unfurled a banner from the balcony that read "Women's Liberation".