The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Burn Your Bra!
The Women’s Liberation movement’s burn your bra campaign hits Truro.
From the collection of:
Overview
TV reporter Andy Price interviews women on the streets of Truro about whether they would figuratively burn the bra. A concern is raised as to whether the undergarment is under serious threat from feminists and women alike or if it will survive to enjoy an uplifting future. Bra burning became a metaphor for the Women’s Liberation Movement, which sprang up across the USA in the late 1960s and signified freedom from male oppression spawning a renewed drive for gender equality.
Bra burning actually never happened. A group of 400 feminists led a protest at Miss America 1969 which was held in September 1968 in Atlantic City, New Jersey and attempted to burn symbols of female oppression in a freedom bin mimicking conscripts burning their draft cards in protest over the Vietnam war. Journalist Lindsy Van Gelder drew the comparison between the two protests and hit the headlines the world over with the title grabbing Bra Burners And Miss America.
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