Status: Confession of a prank
Back in 1970 a picture was taken showing four young women waving placards with messages such as "Ban the Man" and "Down with Men and Marriage." The picture became a symbol of feminism. But thirty-five years later, the women have confessed that their anti-man protest was just a prank.
Margot Ducat explains:
"One day my colleagues - Jo Vincent, Sue James and Shirley Francis - found a wedding dress stuffed in one of the cupboards. Quite why someone left it there we never did find out. Anyway, Shirley tried it on and it was a perfect fit, so we just decided to do something to liven up Surbiton [a London suburb]. It was a rather dull and staid town, so I suggested we telephone the local paper, the Kingston and Malden Borough News, and tell them we were protesting against men. Shirley wore the wedding dress, we made our banners and set off down Victoria Road. Passers-by just gawped in amazement. When it came to being interviewed, we told the press we were militant women's libbers who were fed up with how men seemed to get the best deal out of life. We just made the whole thing up. It was a prank to enliven a very dull day."
Although the article in the Telegraph says that this photograph is very famous and has been reprinted many times, I don't actually have any idea what photograph they're talking about. (And the online version of the article doesn't show the picture.) Anyone know what the image in question is? It's got to be online somewhere.
Comments
And then tried some more vague searches with civil rights, sex descrimination. None of the returns even related to the above story.
I could, however, never figure out who the weaker sex was.
"Funny how Margot's "colleagues" all have surnames that are boy's first names."
"Sue" is a boy's name? Well, I guess it was in that Johnny Cash song (but then, the whole point of the song was that the boy had a girl's name).
I don't remember that "famous" photo either. Something tells me that if it exists, it can't be all that famous.
It reminds me of the belief common in the late 1960s/early 1970s that feminists would burn bras when they got together. Nobody was ever specific about exactly who did this and when and where, though. It might have happened sometime, but it was never a staple event of feminist meetings.
The women didn't burn their bras they threw them down into a big, plastic, garbage can as they marched past. I didn't understood why they did that but since I was only a toddler at the time and a boy and that was probibly the first time I'd seen a bra...
Did you actually SEE women doing this, MadRat? If so, when and where? I'm curious because I've been hearing about this alleged incident most of my life, but never from anyone who could give specific, credible details.
Do some more research. I want a 500-word 10 page paper by the end of the middle of Septober on Mars.
The sit com was situated in Surbiton and the next door neighbour was called Margot. She was very staid and proper. Part of the whole joke of the sitcom was that Surbiton was a boring place.
Does this help or confuse the issue further!!
Why is it that I can find dozens and dozens of reputable references to the 1968 feminist "uprising" in Atlantic City, whereas I cannot find a SINGLE article whatsoever about the subject at hand.
Until some kind of confirmation is brought forth, the incident is a hoax.
Just saying.
"Hey, Cranky Media Guy, How about this one... Perhaps the real hoax here is you sugggesting the story about the "famous" photo being the hoax is the hoax."
[said under my breath while shaking my fist] Caught! Damn it!
It looks legit - 4 British teenaged women with too much puppy fat wearing too-short skirts, and one in a wedding dress bearing the "Ban The Man" placard on the left, all looking terribly serious (or bored) as they march towards the photographer.
The Daily Telegraph's website has a feature that reproduces their newspaper as it went to print for viewing on your desktop so if anyone is really keen (and registered) they might want to see if they can find it. The story ran on the 1st in the Main section, I believe.
Frankly, never having seen the picture before, despite having done classes on the history of feminism, I doubt it's as famous as they claim. Remember, it was just the four girls, not an organised demonstration with plenty of pre-publicity, so it might have been big news for Surbiton, but it probably didn't rate outside the area.
Media beat-up would be a better description of the whole affair.
But the picture definitely exists. Check your local tabloid's Also In The News sections.
There certainly is a photo, in fact more than one, and they have been used by the press the in support of various articles on the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act.
I was amazed to see it some years ago in the Evening Standard, then when the Telegraph reporter contacted me she said it had been shown in the Daily Mail that day, Thursday 29th Dec 2005 and used on many other occassions.
I too have tried to find it on the web without success; I don't know why it isn't shown.
The Sunday Telegraph and my local paper, the Surrey Comet both showed an original photo and a photo of me today, together with the man in my life.
The Surrey Comet shows the recent photo on their web-site but not the original - if they knew it had generated so much interest they might show it; perhaps I'll suggest it!
Now I'm really curious to see this photo. If you have (or could obtain) an electronic version of it, perhaps you could email it to me (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)). I could post a small version of it here (or a big version, if you think whoever owns the copyright wouldn't mind).