Activists from the women's liberation movement hit the boardwalk in Atlantic City to protest the 1968 Miss America pageant. Among the problems feminists had with the beauty contest was the message it sent to young girls - and old girls - about their dreams and potential.
'Miss America As Dream Equivalent To...'
"In this reputedly democratic society, where every little boy supposedly can grow up to be president, what can every little girl grow up to be? Miss America. That's where it's at."
- from New York Radical Women's list of objections to the pageant, distributed at the time of the protest
Robin Morgan wrote "Miss America as dream equivalent to..." in a press release list of criticisms. Carol Hanisch and hundreds of other women demonstrated outside and inside the pageant. The Miss America protest called the nation's attention to the sexist discrepancies in treatment of not just men and women in U.S. society, but the sexist treatment of boys and girls.
But What CAN I Grow Up to Be?
"Real power," the feminists argued, was restricted to men. Before they were relegated to the media's invented role of "happy housewife," girls were offered the dream of one glamorous year wearing a crown and holding flowers.
In subsequent decades, the polarization of those dreams for boys and girls eased a bit. By the early 21st century, it was no longer unlikely that a woman could be president of the United States, and the Miss America pageant heavily emphasized its scholarship programs as much as its praise of beauty. However, the revolution in encouraging success equally to boys and girls was still incomplete.