The World was Rocking Part 2

By Melissa

Kurlansky Chapter 18: The Ghastly Strain of a Smile

In this chapter Kurlansky takes a closer look at an incident which occurred at the Miss America pageant in 1968. Protesters gathered outside the pageant in an effort to stop the events in their tracks. The pageant was an exemplification of the racism held within America. Why were black women ever voted to be Miss America? Is the American female beauty only white? Are multicultural women not beautiful enough to represent our country?  These questions were being raised and no one was answering them. The natives got restless.

Women began to protest not only the pageant but also other injustices which they found within their society. When women were present in protests, the risk of violence was lowered, and thus the media coverage was less. Feminism was resurrected from it supposed early "death" after the nineteenth amendment was passed. The feminist movement then started to take on new causes. They decided to target airline stewardesses.

Stewardesses were expected to leave work after they were married and to retire young. This exemplified the idea that women were supposed to get married an become housewives. This idea was more of a myth than a reality. Employers were not allowed to discriminate against employees based on race, religion, or national origin but they could still discriminate based off of a person's gender.

Women were willing to fight for their rights but most joined the civil rights movement to help the blacks, who were being killed by the discrimination against them. Women were not being killed so priorities were changed. Many men in power had hoped to convince women that their rights were not necessary but the women, after helping the blacks achieve civil rights, did not back down.

In 1968 the American feminists were divided into two groups, the politicos and the radicals. The politicos were suave activists who had gained experience working on the civil rights campaign while the radicals included new comers to the movement who were more extreme.  These women rejected all of the things they did for men in order to please them, such as wear bras, act stupid, pretending to agree with them, and much more.

Women wanted to be taken seriously and compete with men, and that is more difficult to do in a miniskirt. They took back their female power and gave men a run for their money! You go girls, I would have joined you if I was alive at the time. Thank you for your contribution to my rights.