Were you a bra-burner in the 1960s? Well, probably not. Evidently, the story about feminists burning bras to protest the 1968 Miss America Pageant are false. Women did protest the event — and got a lot of attention for it — by tossing bras, girdles, high-heeled shoes and cosmetics into a trash can as a symbol of freedom. But no brassieres were whipped off and set afire.
Nevertheless, for better or worse, bra-burning became the image of feminism for our generation. This shows how much the media craves simple symbols and "news hooks" — a quick and easy image to hook readers or TV viewers into a story.
Today's young women are so media-savvy compared to our generation — and they're not above using our culture's continuing sexism to make a feminist point.
Today, CNN reported on Femen, a group of young women in the Ukraine who flaunt their faces and bodies to draw media attention for their issues.
Femen's leader, 26-year-old Anna Gutsol, explains: "Our goal is active Ukrainian women who want to be involved in society and politics.
"We thought we'd create an organization where young girls could come and help others like them and help society. And the format we picked was this extremely sexy, bright way of presenting ourselves."
Femen's first campaign was against sex tourism. To make their point and get news coverage, the protestors dressed provocatively. More recently, the group met outside the parliament building to protest the fact that President Viktor Yanukovych's new cabinet was all male.
Last year, Femen leader Anna Gutsol told GlobalComment that she doesn't consider herself a feminist, precisely because "feminists" don't sanction dressing in conventionally sexy outfits. She said, "Look, this is part of our culture. To deliberately make yourself unattractive in Ukraine is to consign yourself to the margins. That's not what we want."
If this makes you uncomfortable, call yourself old-fashioned.
Today's young women are much more confident that they really can have it all.
British feminist blogger Catherine Redfern and University of Derby sociologist Kristin Aune, authors of Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movement, point out that today's young feminists broaden the discussion beyond a few hot buttons, including women of color, discrimination against LGBT people, and the way that men also suffer from restrictive roles. (For more on the book, see Pema Levy's review in Campus Progress.)
While only 25 percent of UK women under 29 surveyed by Christina Scharff, Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King's College London, said they were feminists, another surveyby Redfern and Aune of women who did define themselves as such said that they issues they thought important were similar to those 1970s issues:
The survey revealed that 85% think that the important feminist issues are similar to those of the 1970s. The three issues of greatest concern for the 1,300 (three-quarters of whom were under 35) were equality at work and home, violence against women, and issues related to women's bodies (including abortion, reproductive rights, body image and motherhood).
If I'm asked — which happens rarely — I say that I still consider myself a feminist. To me, that simply means that I believe women should have all the same opportunities as men do in our culture. And I applaud young women who are doing it their way.
You know, even in the 1970s, being a feminist did not really require looking dowdy. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, founder of Ms magazine, was gorgeous with her long hair and aviator glasses. (When told she didn't look 50, she famously said, "This is what 50 looks like.") But the goal was to free women to not have to worry about conforming to the world's definition of attractive if they didn't feel like it.
Maybe things are improving.
In February 2008, Tyra Banks burned some bras on her talk show, in honor of the book Boobs: A Guide to Your Girls by Elisabeth Squires. While some members of the studio audience whipped off their shirts to bare their bras, none actually went braless. The blog Feministing complained that burning the bras didn't quite fit with Squire's body-acceptance message, but there is a sense of freedom and solidarity in this group of all-sizes women.
Read our 2010 interview with Elisabeth Squires here: Notes from the Boob Lady.
And here's a video about Femen: