Of Bras and History

Congrats to Women in Media and News (and Jen Pozner) on their successful action to correct history in the Tampa Tribune. The Tribune ran a follow-up article ("No Bras Burned, But They Did Revolt") to correct the myth they were perpetuating in an earlier piece. The correction begins:

It’s a myth so pervasive, most of us believe it’s true.

I know I did.

So when information about ‘feminist bra burning rallies’ turned up in a timeline Maidenform provided for a Sept. 27 story on the history of the bra, I didn’t think twice about using it.

Bra-burning women’s libbers have become an important part of 1960s lore. I’ve heard stories about them. I’ve read about them in books and magazines.

The problem is, things didn’t go down quite the way those stories tell it.

That’s not to say bra-burning never happened as a public protest anywhere during the turbulent ’60s. But feminists didn’t set their bras ablaze in the spectacular way that has become legend....

In the groovy pic above, an unidentified member of the Women's Liberation Party drops a bra in the trash barrel in protest of the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., on Sept. 7, 1968.

And speaking of getting history straight, if you're in or around NYC, don't forget to come to the Feminist New York panel I'm moderating at the Tenement Museum tonight! Details here.