New York Radical Women was an early feminist group that existed from 1967–1969.
NYRW was founded in New York City in the fall of 1967, by Shulamith Firestone and Pam Allen. Early members included: Ros Baxandall, Carol Hanisch, Patricia Mainardi, Robin Morgan, Irene Peslikis, Kathie Sarachild, and Ellen Willis.[1 ]. The New York Radical Women were a group of young, 20 something friends who stood for the New Left. They had grown tired of the male led civil rights era, and the men who still preferred their female counterparts to stay at home.[2]. The New York Radical Women wanted to re-invent the idea of feminists, a better, more positive view. Unlike other feminist groups of its time, they actually wanted to make a difference; they were actively seeking to change things unlike many other groups at the time.[3]
The first major protest NYRW attended was the Jeannette Rankin Brigade Protest in Washington, D.C., on January 15, 1968.[4] Members of NYRW led an alternative protest event - a burial of traditional womanhood, held in Arlington National Cemetery.[5] The protest was designed to be against the women who supported the Vietnam War.[4]. Protestors were sent inviations telling them not to bring flowers or even to cry at the 'burial' but to be prepared to bury the traditional female roles.[6]. However, many women were 'disgusted' by this ceremonial burial and the protest was not as successful as their second protest.[6]
NYRW participated in the first major Women's Liberation Movement (WLM) demonstration, the Miss America Protest in Atlantic City, NJ, on September 7, 1968.[7] The Miss America Pageant was originally established by a group of businessmen to boost the moral of the troops in Vietnam ‘and projecting an image of pure womanhood’.[8] This of course was portraying woman in a degrading fashion and feminists groups were angered as women were paraded like pieces of meat.[9] The image that the women in these pageants were forced to portray was the controversial ‘Madonna/Whore’ image; the contestants had to look seductive in skimpy bikini’s but then also had to look pure and demure in order to fit in with society. One main protest statement that was used during this time was, ‘Atlantic City, a town with class-They raise your morals while they judge your ass!’ [10] The women took a leaf out of the Yippie book and like the presidential pig, the New York Radical Women crowned a sheep Miss America. They also insisted to speaking to only female journalists and created a ‘freedom trash can’ where they burned their bras, make up, wigs and high-heeled shoes. On top of renouncing beauty items, copies of women’s magazines and Playboy, a magazine which again portrayed the Madonna /whore image; showing pictures of naked women with texts alongside describing their wholesome attitude.[2] The protest against the Miss America pageant of 1968 was not only feminist but was also racially motivated as there had never been a black Miss America.[10]
By 1969, the various ideological tendencies within the group had coalesced into a radical feminist faction and a socialist feminist (or "politico") faction. Tension between the two factions ended up splitting the group in January 1969; the socialist feminists, such as Robin Morgan, left to form Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (W.I.T.C.H.), while the radical feminists around Shulamith Firestone started Redstockings.[1 ]
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