History - Second Wave Feminism

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HISTORY/PHOTOGRAPHY/FEMINISM/FASHION/ART/TRAVEL

Allure Press Issue 78 Sep/Aug 2015 AUS: $10.50 INC GST NZ: $12.50 INC GST UK: £6.99 PP100003146 ISSN 14497794

About this issue This issue is a special throwback edition of Allure magazine.

Going all the way back to the 1960’s! The edition explores Second Wave Feminism and more specifically the New York Radical Women Organization, you will learn about all their ideals, their origins and what life was like for women in the 1960’s. As well as showing powerful art and photography embracing all women

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004 Who are New York radical women?

006 Historical Contexts 008 Aims/Ideals 010 What did they do?

012 Medias influence 014 Successes

What ‘s Inside?

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New york Radical Women who are they?

CHLOE DORLING

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><> New York Radical Women were a women’s liberation movement group whom raised issues about inequality of the sexes specifically how women are objectified and not seen as ‘people’ to men. The group began meeting in small places such as apartments and didn’t have specific connections with the university community differentiating themselves from most of the other women’s liberation groups

A key leader of the group is Carol Hanisch she was a founding member of the liberation movement group. She was the woman whom originated the idea for the group to protest at the 1968 Miss America Pageant, she wrote “The Personal is Political” in 1969, contributed in the editing of Redstocking’s book “Feminist Revolution” in 1973, edited the journal “Meeting Ground” from 1978-1992 and is currently editing “Meeting Ground On Line” since 2014

The NYRW were one of the earliest women’s liberation groups within the U.S. In the beginnings the group only had a small amount of members the group being so small they met in apartments. Not even two months after creating the group the women set out to Jeanette Rankin Brigade where another protest was being held by a bigger women’s peace activists, NYRW’s goal was to convince group whom were protesting the Vietnam War to make them

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understand that “playing upon the traditional female role in a classic manner” was not how they would achieve peace. NYRW wanted the women to rebel against the exploitation to gain real power because “it is naive to believe that women, who are not politically seen, heard, or represented in this country could change the course of a war by simply

appealing to the better natures of congressmen.”

(Firestone, 1968) Shulamith Firestone also reflected on the NYRW’s first year and stated that we were not really prepared to rechannel this disgust, to provide the direction that was so badly needed. … [We] learned the value of being able to size up a situation and act on it at once, the importance of unrehearsed speaking ability.”

“We all fight over what the label 'feminism' means but for me it's about empowerment. It's not about being more powerful than men - it's about having equal rights with protection, support, justice. It's about very basic things. It's not a badge like a fashion item.”

Annie Lennox

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During the 1960’s women were limited in comparison to men in almost every aspect of life. This ranged from family life where a women was expected to marry off at a early age and then spend the rest of her life tending to her family eg. Cooking every meal, cleaning, being a 24hour housewife, the women were seen to basically be servants to their husbands they spent “an average of 55 hours a week on domestic chores” to the work place.

In the work place it was rare to even see a women in the work place they rarely earned their own money and could basically only have options to be a teacher, sectary or nurse and generally were laughed at if they wanted a big cooperate job, many workplaces boasted about the fact that they never hired women and thought that the workplace was no place for women.

Between the Second and First Wave The 1930’s are known as the ‘Progressive Era’. During World-War II women had penetrated the workforce to take over the jobs that were left by the men who went off to war – when the men came back though, women were immediately kicked out and expected to return to their duties of being a women this is what began women’s desire to become equal competitors within the work force Second Wave The Second wave of feminism began in the 1960’s it is said that Betty Friedan is the reason feminism sparked again with the publication of ‘The Feminine Mystique’. The Second Wave extended from the 1960s to the late 1980s. The aims were to change the laws on reproductive rights, workplace environment, violence against women and discrimatory laws. They wanted more positive images of women to fight the common message of the ‘happy housewife’

Historical context

What was going on before/during all this?

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Aims OF New York Radical Women  What was the point?

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The main goal for the New York Radical Women focused on equality within the workplace they fought for the right to a wider variety of jobs and an equal salary between men and women.

The NYRW focused on the objectification of women within pageants when holding their protest against the Miss America Pageant their posters show cased women and drew them up contrasting them with livestock fighting for people to see women as people not a pretty face or the expectation to all look a similar way, one sign read “can makeup cover the wounds of oppression” their aim was to open societies eyes by luring their attention to an event highly popular all over the nation and thanks to the media their message was sent Feminists as a whole in the 1960’s mainly focused on one or all of the following six topics; o Redefining the ‘roles’ for women – women didn’t want to just be labeled as the child bearers and have all responsibility for raising children

o The education of women, education for women was also downplayed by men and wanted a push for women to want to strive not just have an education to ‘fall back on’ o The actual acknowledgment of the word feminism – many people thought that feminism was just for lesbians and wanted women to become the superior gender rather then understanding that it is the equality of all genders o Abortion rights, women wanted the right to have the right to legally have abortions and be able to decide what happens to their reproductive systems o Equality legalization, women wanted to have equal pay and also for a law to be passed for sex discrimination o Women also wanted people to see the assumptions people had because of our language and show they reflect male dominance

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nYRW’s Method of Attack

What did they do to get recognized?

The New York Radicals main method of gaining attention and spreading their message was through protests their most successful being the Miss America Pageant protest which caught media attention all across the country and began the myth of the “feminist braburners” which in fact didn’t happen but is something still referred to in modern society. The group also held meeting to discuss all issues to do with women’s right and because they didn’t link with a

specific university community gained a wider variety of women from all around.

The women also shared stories on a feminist newspaper spreading their views to similar women all over NYRW spread their message in a variety of ways for example a smaller scale act was when one of the women’s boss wouldn’t pay what he had owed her for working and the group all joined together and met at the restaurant at which she was working and said they would put up a picket line if he didn’t pay her immediately (he did), acts like this didn’t happen very often but proved affective when put into action

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The Miss America Pageant Protest 400 women gathered to protest outside of the event and threw feminine products into large bins – these items included pots, pans, mops, high-heeled shoes, hairspray, makeup products, corsets and bras. To gain more notice they wanted initially to burn their bras but police denied their requests.

The last even NYRW attended was the Counter-Inauguration, which was in Washington – they targeted women who were in favor of the Vietnam War, Protestors were sent

invitations telling them not to bring flowers or even to cry at the 'burial', but to be prepared to bury traditional female roles Firestone, Shulamith (1968).

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat” Rebecca West

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The role of the media

Where would we be without it?

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The media played an immense role within spreading the knowledge/opinions of the 1960’s feminists if the media had not spread through the news the Miss America Pageant Protest the only people who would have known about it would have been people within the town who would have quickly forgotten about it or shaken it off, modern feminism would not be the same the myth of the braburning would not be around because it was the media that portrayed that story. The articles published in newspapers spread the news even more widely because both men and women read them informed them of the changing views of how women should be treated were printed. Without the media feminism would be nothing like it is in the modern age

it would probably have been swept under the rug and an ‘underground operation’ An article reviewing he media outrage over the Miss America stated; In September 1968, a public protest in the United States, a country many thought to be the home of the world's most liberated women, captured headlines around the world. The media reported the startling fact that 100 or so mostly young women believed that they needed "women's liberation." The women picketed and disrupted the widely popular Miss America Beauty Pageant, calling beauty standards and beauty competitions part of a wide- ranging "oppression" of women. “Miss America Protest Hits Beauty Slavery” read a headline from the heartland city of Louisville, KY.

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Reactions

What did everyone think about all this change?

Women were ecstatic about the change in women’s rights and finally feeling like they could make a change to their world and not have their lives all planned out for them, the more women that joined women’s liberation movements the more that wanted to join. Some women were scared of the change and how men would react or perhaps liked the way that their lives were lived and didn’t want to see change or didn’t understand why women should be treated

Many people didn’t like the idea of feminism and to this day are still against it trying to convince people that feminism will ruin their lives

“Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians” Pat Robertson\ In modern society people continue to downplay feminism and discriminate against women modern day jokes include “How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb? None, they cant change anything”

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Successfulness Did it really make an impact?

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To conclude this edition, New York Radical Women impacted society for the better, although they didn’t have a wide variety of events they managed to have one event, which sparked international attention spreading the ideals of feminism all over the world. Modern society would not have been the same without the New York Radical Women; we would no longer have the “bra burning” feminist ideologies that we don’t need all the feminine products to define ourselves. Although it is obvious New York Radical Women were not the only organization fighting for women’s rights it was one of the most effective and would have inspired thousands of women to stand up for themselves. New York Radical women helped in the fight for women’s right and changed the patriarchy forever

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Bibliography 1. The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women | Tavaana Case Study. 2015. The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women | Tavaana Case Study. [ONLINE] Available at: https://tavaana.org/en/content/1960s-70s-americanfeminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women. [Accessed 28 August 2015].

2. Within the article the author gives a breakdown/insight into all the events leading up to/during the 1960’s-70’s to do with feminism 3. The piece is more factual rather then expressing an opinion and documents several events/facts about the time period. The author goes into detail explaining the roles of women at the time and/which was why they decided to protest about the inequality. A particular point event that helps with what I am looking at is when the article talks about the Miss America Pageant Protest held by the New York Radical Women group 4. The author provides a good insight into the events leading up to the New York Radical Women movement but a limitation would be that it doesn’t go into much detail about the Miss America Pageant Protest. The writing style is easy to read and understand and I believe I know more about the lead up of events during the second wave feminism 5. The piece helps me to learn a small amount about one of the N.Y.R.W protest but mostly gives me information referring background knowledge so I can now understand why my specific group did what they did and similar groups who did similar things to them 1. American Experience | Miss America | People & Events. 2015. American Experience | Miss America | People & Events. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/peopleevents/e_feminists.html. [Accessed 28 August 2015].

2. The purpose of the article is to inform people of the 1968 feminist protest held by the New York Radical Women 3. The main idea of the piece is/was to discuss the “shocking events” of 1968 and how and why the New York Radical Women held their protest targeting the Miss America Pageant. The author goes into detail explaining the events of September 7th and just how important this event ending up being as explained in the piece “a wider audience than ever before became aware of the women’s liberation movement” 4. The author provided me with a detailed explanation of the New York Radical Women’s most successful protest and I believe it will help me answer my question “has it made a difference on modern society/would modern society be different if this didn’t happen”. The piece offers no evidence to support their statements. The main limitation of the piece is that it only focuses on the one event giving only a brief summary of other movements the New York Radical Women were associated with 5. This piece will be useful for me research because it gives a good amount of information about the most important event that the New York Radical Women were a part of and offers me a good insight into the impact it had on the world whilst also what was happening in the world at the time giving me more insight to understand for my research

1. Feminism’s Second Wave | The Gender Press. 2015. Feminism’s Second Wave | The Gender Press.

[ONLINE] Available at: https://genderpressing.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/feminisms-second-wave-2/.

[Accessed 28 August 2015].

2. The author describes events that happened during the second wave of feminism providing a basic overview of events and issue of sexism during the time

3. Support for the author’s information is shown by photographic evidence and also a video is shown to verify the statements – also by providing specific dates verifies and makes it easier to look elsewhere to confirm the statements. The main ideas expressed explain the sexism and also goes in a small portion of racism; the piece explains events from the 1940’s to the 1980’s. The article explains the change in events and how/why things happened they way they did for women

4. I found this piece easy to understand and providing the photographs/video proved the statements

even more. This website was the first that I visited to find out what I wanted to research and when reading about the Miss America Pageant protest made me want to research more which was why I picked the New York Radical Women to focus on learning about. The main limitation of the website would be that events are explained within a few paragraphs and could provide more information to help me/people have a further understanding

5. This article is useful to for my research topic because it was what inspired me to research the topic, and not only gives me specific information about the protest but also gives me a factual overview of several other events and what life was like for women during the time.

1. Pageant Protest Sparked Bra-Burning Myth: NPR. 2015. Pageant Protest Sparked Bra-Burning Myth: NPR. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94240375.

[Accessed 28 August 2015].

2. In this article Nell Greenfieldboyce reviews the myth of the “bra burning” story. In modern society people still refer to feminist as bra burners and this article informs us that the 1968 Miss America Pageant protest didn’t actually have any bras burning. The purpose it to challenge the belief that feminists burn their bras in rage 3. Support for these claims are documented with direct quotes from people who were involved in the protest e.g. Carol Hanisch – it also refers to a “New York Post” story that was published. The author has provided a thorough investigation about all the events and myths that are still running around in modern society of something that in fact never happened 4. I found this piece extremely useful because I had heard the reference of a bra burner several times throughout my life and learnt that it was the Miss America Pageant protest that sparked the myth of bra burners I believe it is very helpful for my research proving it has made a huge impact on modern society. I don’t believe there are any limitations of the piece I found it informative and provided evidence to all claims and comments 5. This article is useful for my research topic because it goes into specific details about just how major the Miss America Pageant protest was and the modern day myth of “bra burners” and also the events of the day and how the media reacted I believe it gives me an even further understanding of the event and how the media shared it with society at the time of the event

1. Feminist article: "Struggles over Leadership in the Women's Liberation Movement" by Carol Hanisch.

2015. Feminist article: "Struggles over Leadership in the Women's Liberation Movement" by Carol

Hanisch. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.carolhanisch.org/CHwritings/Leadership.html. [Accessed 28 August 2015].

2. In this article Carol Hanisch explains “Struggles Over Leadership in the Women’s Liberation Movement”, the article reviews several interesting topics regarding women’s rights/liberation movements including in depth information about each topic 3. The main ideas expressed are the outrageous and sexist ways women were treated in the past and why/how women fought back against the inequality of the sexes. Support for the arguments from the author are shown through direct quotes and the use of the bibliography at the end showing all statements are true and have been reviewed 4. The biggest (probably only) limitation of the website is the amount of information whilst giving me an even wider concept of Womens Liberation Movements at times I found that the information wouldn’t necessarily help within my research 5. The article is helpful to my project because it speaks of the origins of the New York Radical Women association and how it became apparent – including a personal insight into the organization giving me much further detailed insight for my research fashion Model makeup portrait pink 1960's twiggy vintagegal •. 2015. • fashion Model makeup portrait pink 1960's twiggy vintagegal •. [ONLINE] Available at: http://rebloggy.com/post/fashion-modelmakeup-portrait-pink-1960-s-twiggy/31162255241. [Accessed 18 September 2015].

Used for Images Free Online Barcode Generator: Create Barcodes for Free!. 2015. Free Online Barcode Generator: Create Barcodes for Free!. [ONLINE] Available at: http://barcode.tec-it.com/en. [Accessed 18 September 2015].

Used to make my barcode for front cover . 2015. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1395859/thumbs/o-JEAN-SHRIMPTON570.jpg?5. [Accessed 18 September 2015].

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