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Bra burning is a term most often associated with the women's liberation movement. Did you know that this term is actually a misnomer? Find out why!
Bra burning is a term most often associated with the women’s liberation movement. Did you know that this term is actually a misnomer? Find out why!
‘Bra burning’.. just the sound of the term signifies a lot of anger and energy and that is why it has caught the fancy of the world. People tend to use the term without really realizing that the term is actually a misnomer, and a thing like ‘bra burning’ never ever happened in any of the feminist movements around the world. Here is all you want to know to get your facts right.
The term originated as a result of the agitation that took place at the Miss America pageant on September 7, 1968 where hundreds of feminist activists got together in the Atlantic City of Boardwalk to protest against the Miss America pageant. The disconnect was not so much with a beauty pageant as much as it was on the judgment parameters of the models that were indicative of being ludicrous. It was also meant to be a strong stand against the Vietnam War and racism due to the absence of even a single black Miss America!
The protest did not involve literal ‘burning of bras’ although the protestors did throw items that they thought indicate oppression in the ‘freedom trash can’. These included high heeled shoes, Playboy magazine copies, girdles, hair curlers and bras. However, none of these were put on fire.
The good that originated from this myth about bra burning was that it gave a easy, common term to these feminists. The ease of understanding of the literal meaning of the term gives it a meaning of ‘breaking open the shackles’ and therefore, ‘bra burning feminists’ as a term caught the fancy of many.
However, bra burning also began to be used as a term to signify radical feminism, and not always in a positive manner, and that is why it is so commonly heard. It’s easy to diss feminists if you think all they are doing is burning bras!
Here’s a funny video that tells you more about how the myth around bra burning feminists emerged.
Image sourced from pixabay.com
Ruchi Verma Rajan is a woman on a mission of self-discovery. An avid reader since childhood, she grew up in the idyllic world of Enid Blyton and went on to devour the age old read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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