The media made me do it…
So, it turns out the photo that spawned a mass feminist image was a big joke:
For more than three decades the four feisty, placard-waving teenagers pictured above have been the face of British feminism, epitomising the generation who called themselves women’s libbers, burnt their bras and fought for equality with men. Since then their photograph, taken in 1970, has been published on numerous occasions, most recently this week to mark the 30 years of the Sex Discrimination Act.
But the feminist four, it transpires, were not quite what they seemed. The teenagers, chanting “rights for women” and carrying placards proclaiming “Ban the Man” and “Down with Men and Marriage”, were, in reality, a quartet of pranksters who had staged the demonstration for a joke.
Their hoax fooled the national media, who descended upon the women the day after their photograph and interview appeared in a local newspaper. The girls brazened it out, repeating their feminist tirade against men to the delight of the journalists.
Hmm, doesn’t sound that different from the junk on CNN these days does it? Remember Runaway Bride last year…? John Stewart was right when he ridiculed CNN’s Crossfire for being ‘theatre’ instead of a news debate show. Will the mainstream media ever step up to the plate and publish reliable news?
All criticism aside, I’m glad that the media did help to fabricate the begining of the feminist movement. I may like to wear fancy bras instead of burning them, but I’m sure glad to have the same rights and freedoms as any man.