Ann J. Simonton (born 1952) is an American writer, lecturer, media activist, and former fashion model. She founded and coordinates the non-profit group "Media Watch", [1] which challenges what they see as racism, sexism, and violence in the media through education and action. Simonton has published two autobiographical chapters, I Never Told Anyone and Her Wits About Her. She has also written and produced two educational videos, one of which, Don't Be a TV: Television Victim, received a Silver Apple Award from the National Educational Video and Film Festival in 1995.
Simonton began as a fashion model in Los Angeles and vaulted to the top of the modelling world in New York City in the early 1970s. [2] On June 24, 1971, she was gang raped at knifepoint in Morningside Park on her way to a modeling assignment. This event informed her activism to help end sexual assaults on women.
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Simonton's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover from January 28, 1974 |
Simonton became a radical feminist activist, and has been arrested and jailed 11 times for committing acts of non-violent civil disobedience. In the 1980s, she and Nikki Craft led the "Myth California" protests, a series of counter-pageants which accused the Miss California pageant of contributing to "the objectification of women and the glorification of the beauty myth." [3] Simonton wore various meat outfits in these protests: one of baloney in 1982, skirt steak in 1985, and turkey slices in 1987. In 1987 she shaved off all her bleached blond hair in front of the pageant venue in San Diego to protest "racist attitudes" in the pageants. [4] The protests garnered international attention, and were partially responsible for the Miss California pageant relocating from Santa Cruz to San Diego, California. [5]
Simonton lectures nationally on university campuses with a presentation entitled, "Sex, Power and the Media." She has been a guest on Dr. Phil , The Oprah Winfrey Show , Larry King Live , Entertainment Tonight and CNN's Crossfire .
Simonton worked as a Ford fashion model in the 1970s. [6]
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other social divisions such as in race, class, and sexual orientation. The ideology and movement emerged in the 1960s.
A beauty pageant is a competition traditionally focused on judging and ranking the contestants' physical attributes. Pageants have now moved towards including inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, talent, character, and charitable involvement, through private interviews with judges and answers to public on-stage questions. Pageant titles are subdivided into Miss, Mrs. or Ms., and Teen – to clearly identify the difference between pageant divisions.
Marie Louise Hartman, known professionally as Nina Hartley, is an American pornographic film actress and sex educator. By 2017 she had appeared in more than one thousand adult films. She has been described by Las Vegas Weekly as an "outspoken feminist" and "advocate for sexual freedom", and by CNBC as "a legend in the adult world".
Robin Morgan is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the international feminist movement. Her 1970 anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful was cited by the New York Public Library as "One of the 100 Most Influential Books of the 20th Century.". She has written more than 20 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, and was editor of Ms. magazine.
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by American magazine Sports Illustrated and features female fashion models, celebrities and athletes wearing swimwear in various locales around the world. The highly coveted cover photograph has been considered as the arbiter of supermodel succession. The issue carries advertising that, in 2005, amounted to US$35 million in value. First published in 1964, it is credited with making the bikini, invented in 1946, a legitimate piece of apparel.
Diana E. H. Russell was a feminist writer and activist. Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, she moved to England in 1957, and then to the United States in 1961. For the past 45 years she was engaged in research on sexual violence against women and girls. She wrote numerous books and articles on rape, including marital rape, femicide, incest, misogynist murders of women, and pornography. For The Secret Trauma, she was co-recipient of the 1986 C. Wright Mills Award. She was also the recipient of the 2001 Humanist Heroine Award from the American Humanist Association. She was also an organizer of the First International Tribunal on Crimes against Women, in Brussels in March 1976.
D. A. Clarke is an American radical feminist essayist and activist, notable for her development of feminist theory, and for the anonymous poem privilege.
The Miss California competition selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America competition.
Women Against Pornography (WAP) was a radical feminist activist group based out of New York City that was influential in the anti-pornography movement of the late 1970s and the 1980s.
New York Radical Women (NYRW) was an early second-wave radical feminist group that existed from 1967 to 1969. They drew nationwide media attention when they unfurled a banner inside the 1968 Miss America pageant displaying the words "Women's Liberation".
Melissa Rose Haro is an American model who appeared in the 2008 and 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Her 2008 photo shoot was set in the Cayman Islands during the Pirate Week festival and included many photos in keeping with its motif. Her 2009 photo shoot was set in Riviera Maya.
The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included putting symbolic feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can" on the Atlantic City boardwalk, including bras, hairspray, makeup, girdles, corsets, false eyelashes, mops, and other items. The protesters also unfurled a large banner emblazoned with "Women's Liberation" inside the contest hall, drawing worldwide media attention to the Women's Liberation Movement.
The modern bikini first appeared in 1946, and since then it has become a part of popular culture. It is one of the most widely worn women's swimsuits, used for swimming and in a variety of other contexts. Today, bikinis appear in competitions, films, magazines, music, literature, and video games. Despite the availability of more revealing glamour wear, bikini modeling remains popular and can still create controversy. Portrayals of the bikini in popular culture led, to a large extent, to its acceptance by Western society at large. In 1960, Brian Hyland's pop song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" inspired a bikini-buying spree. The white bikini worn by Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No has been cited as one of the most famous bikinis of all time. By 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol. Playboy first featured a bikini on its cover in 1962. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debuted two years later. This increasing popularity was reinforced by its appearance in such contemporary films as How to Stuff a Wild Bikini featuring Annette Funicello and One Million Years B.C. (1966) featuring Raquel Welch. Raquel Welch's fur bikini in One Million Years B.C. became a famous moment in cinema history. Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Gina Lollobrigida and Jane Russell further helped the growing popularity of bikinis. Pin up posters of Monroe and Mansfield, as well as Hayworth, Bardot and Raquel Welch distributed around the world contributed significantly to the popularity of the bikini.
Andrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo works: nine books of non-fiction, two novels, and a collection of short stories. Another three volumes were co-written or co-edited with US constitutional law professor and feminist activist Catharine A. MacKinnon.
Nikki Craft is an American feminist activist and writer.
Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist views on sexuality, and is closely related to those on prostitution, BDSM, and other issues. Pornography has been one of the most divisive issues in feminism, particularly in Anglophone (English-speaking) countries. This division was exemplified in the feminist sex wars of the 1980s, which pitted anti-pornography activists against pro-pornography ones.
Olivia Frances Culpo is an American model, actress, and media personality. After winning the Miss Rhode Island USA competition, she went on to win Miss USA 2012, and then Miss Universe 2012.
The Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium is an event and convention venue located in downtown Santa Cruz, California. It is owned by the City of Santa Cruz and is located at 307 Church Street. Opened in 1940, it was built in what was described as, "Mission-style in architecture with a modern touch and an arrangement of open porches on the corners and sides." Its style has also been described as Art Deco. It is the home of the Santa Cruz County Symphony as well as other concerts, expos, conferences, and sporting events. A carillon was installed in 1963.
Myla Grace Dalbesio is an American model, artist, and writer.
Halima Aden is an American fashion model. She is noted for being the first woman to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA 2016 pageant, where she was a semi-finalist. Following her participation in the pageant, Halima received national attention and was signed to IMG Models. She was also the first model to wear a hijab and burkini in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.