Miss America Protest (1968)

Sat Sep 07, 1968

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Image: Protesters denounce the swimsuit competition as a cattle auction on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, September 7th, 1968 [time.com]

On this day in 1968, a feminist protest was simultaneously held alongside the Miss America contest, becoming a widely publicized event in which women threw their bras, hairspray, and makeup into a symbolic “Freedom Trash Can”.

The event was organized by “New York Radical Women”, and included putting symbolic feminine products - including bras, hairspray, makeup, girdles, corsets, false eyelashes, and mops - into a “Freedom Trash Can” on the Atlantic City boardwalk.

Protesters also crowned a live sheep, comparing the beauty pageant to livestock competitions at county fairs, including an illustration of a woman’s figure marked up like a side of beef.

According to author Beth Kreydatus, the protest “‘marked the end of the movement’s obscurity’ and made both ‘women’s liberation’ and beauty standards topics for national discussion”.