The feminists who protested the Miss America Pageant in 1968 publicized their criticism of the pageant to explain why they rejected its objectification of women. High on their list of complaints was the use of "Miss America as Military Death Mascot."
Strong Anti-War Sentiment
The Vietnam War claimed thousands of lives and faced strong opposition in the United States. Many activists in the women's liberation movement shared with the anti-war movement a desire for peace. Women's liberation also studied the common ground among different groups of people who were oppressed in male supremacist society. Oppression based on sex differences could be seen as related to the violence and killing that went along with war and military operations around the world.
Supporting the Troops, or the Men in Charge?
In 1967, the Miss America Pageant sent the first Miss America USO troupe to Vietnam to entertain soldiers. While this was presented as an effort to support the troops - that is, individual soldiers - it was also seen by some as support of the war, or of war and killing in general.
In publicity materials for the Miss America protest, feminist leaders referred to the Miss America "cheerleader-tour of American troops abroad" as another way in which pageant winners were exploited by society's powerful forces. Miss America, the protesters said, was "sent to Vietnam to pep-talk our husbands, fathers, sons and boyfriends into dying and killing with a better spirit."
Feminism, Peace and Global Justice
The debate over the "military-industrial complex" and widespread deployment of troops around the globe encompasses much more than the Miss America pageant. However, feminist activists believed in constantly calling attention to the many ways women were pressured or used to support powerful men's goals. Historically, powerful men's goals had often resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. Many feminists, such as socialist feminists and ecofeminists, repeatedly linked global injustice with subjugation of women. The Miss America protesters adopted a similar line of thinking when they decried the use of pageant contestants as "mascots for murder."