Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Miss University London Pageant Infiltrated and Disrupted

Smash Miss Contest | 11.03.2009 13:17 | Culture | Gender | Social Struggles

Protestors infiltrate Beauty Pageant, disrupting it from the inside. To complement the different protests against this event, one group braved the inside of the club. They used a variety of means to disturb it, halt it and show why its not okay to do this.



“Now I know why my mother’s generation did what they did in the 60s. I feel amazing. Tonight we did what we said we would – we smashed Miss University London!”
- Martina Pasonaria, 30, Musician

At 1.30am this morning a group calling themselves SMASH MISS CONTEST [1] infiltrated Miss University London and caused disruption throughout the event with stink bombs and personal alarms, culminating with a stage invasion bringing the show to a halt during the announcement of the winner. A questionnaire and open letter to participants were scattered to the audience, contestants and compere.

Miss University London re-emerged two years ago amongst widespread controversy. Set up by 121entertainment[2], led by Christian Emile, the event drew in three different protest groups. Miss-Ogynist University London [3] a group specifically set up to resist the pageant’s presence on campus, rallied opposite the entrance. They were joined by The Space Hijackers[4] who handed out tissues to men queuing for the pageant.

“They couldn’t hide what the event was – a crass judgement of women based on their looks, all so that they could make money.”
- Helen Bradshaw, 21, Student

[1]www.smashmisscontest.wordpress.com
[2]www.missuniversitylondon.com
[3] http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=31412009878
[4] www.spacehijackers.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TEXT OF OPEN LETTER:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Contestants and Audience,




This is a letter from those fuckers who interrupted your night. This is why we did it:




Because if you think it's fine to judge women against each other, go work on an eating disorder help line for a week and think again.




Because if you have some kind of post-feminist logic that says feminism just isn't sexy and you wanna be sexy, you should check out Bikini Kill or Peaches.




Because if you think it's just a bit of harmless fun, then you should know you are actively reproducing ideas and structures which harm womens' minds and lives - to do with physical appearance and roles in life, about relationships and ambitions, all the things that tell us we're too sexy or not sexy enough, we're too aggressive or too passive - the cage of what women are expected to be.




Because if you think gender roles are 'natural', stop kidding yourself and learn to have more gender-bending fun.




Because if you think there's only one way to be sexy, you're clearly shit in bed.




Because if you think depicting oneself or women in general as 'pretty' and 'nice' and 'passive' and 'weak' has nothing to do with why men rape women, then read up on 'misogyny' - we're all trained to hate women for having these traits, and that's a big part of why men rape women.




Because if you think it’s nice to be applauded for being young and pretty, wait till you’ve lived a bit longer and have some wrinkles, and that acclaim is ripped away from you. The more you relish the glory now, the more painful it’ll be when you’re ignored or mocked for growing older.




Because we are not going to patronize you, although its sad you need this external approval. You’ve made your choices but it’s not just about you; what you’re participating in affects women outside this club as well as inside; it’s a degradation and an insult and you’re complicit in the fucked up system it’s perpetuating.




Yours sincerely,




Us.




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


QUESTIONNAIRE TEXT:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miss University London

Intelligence Test for the Contestants. Addendum.

(You have to fill this is in separately to the main competition, as it turns out there’s not enough time to judge your brains on stage . We decided that it was most important for the show to judge your capacities for abstract thought by the way you strut down the catwalk. But due to the negative press we have received from the jealous ugly feminists out there, we have to have a token gesture which makes our beauty pageant seem more appropriate to the context of university education.)




Which Sex and the City character would you most relate to? (We mislaid your original answers to this question in your application forms. We just looked at the pictures you sent in)



 Carrie, because she represents an impossible and unreal ideal of working 4 hours a week writing about her friends for a mainstream paper and nevertheless being able to afford a 150 square metre loft in Manhattan and go for dinners, parties or drinks 7 days a week, shopping everytime she feels like and never thinking about other issues rather than her friend’s sex lives, even though in her own country poverty levels are the highest rates, suffering serious failings in state, local and federal measures to address sexual violence against Native American women and where discrimination remains a concern in a variety of areas, including policing practices, the operation of the criminal justice system and housing rights.




 Samantha, because she just wants to get laid and doesn´t give a shit about anything else other than that, so she can feel beautiful and desired and so forget the fact that she never felt pretty enough or good enough and was severely bullied at school for that.




 Charlotte, because she’s obsessed with finding a husband, as if that’s the only thing that will make her feel okay about herself, and she judges men based on whether they can support her fancy lifestyle.




 Miranda, because somehow she managed to have a baby and a career, despite the fact that the newspapers tell me I’m kidding myself if I think I can do that without having a nervous breakdown.




 None of those, I am between 18 and 21 years and studing in a London university, so I can’t see how could I identify myself with TV series that happens in New York, where the main characters are 4 women that spend their fictional lives bitching about other women and using men for their money, living the so-called high life without one of them having a job that could pay for that lifestyle.




 None of those, I find Sex and The City a quite insulting representation and givse a very wrong idea of women’s aspirations. Even though this TV series might have helped out some women breaking with the taboo of talking about their sexual lives, it also perpetuates the idea that women’s first priority in life is finding a rich and handsome husband and all that comes before are a series of hard core selections to assure themselves that this men are rich, succesful and good enough in bed. I think women can do much more and much better than that.




 None of those, i am a young woman living in the UK working lots for very little money and I spend my free time listening to music, reading books, making films, drawing, singing and playing guitar, chatting with my male and female friends, going to the pub, cooking nice meals to share with my friends, questioning hierarchy and power and gender roles in society, questioning government decisions on climate change and other very important issues, learning how to live a more sustainable life and reducing my dependence to big corporation’s products and thinking about different options other than capitalism, trying to be empathetic with other people’s sufferings, understanding that it’s up to all of us to change a situation in which 1 billion people in the world suffer from malnutrition, death from treatable desease, rape and other war related ilnesses, wars that are fought in order to maintain a status quo in which a tiny elite controls and consumes almost all natural ressources.




 None of those. I think these TV series represent a totally wrong and distorted ideal of sexual freedom in a world where the right to sexual freedom has become the right for womens’ bodies to be sold in every lap dancing bar and on every magazine cover. The often degrading images of women, the sale of sex in its various manifestations on a scale undreamt of a generation ago, the widespread use of porn and sexual images on the internet and other media, all create an atmosphere where women´s sexuality is seen as something to be bought and sold and where women are regarded as sexual objects, and I think Sex and the City is actually a contribution to maintain that unequal and deranged gender status quo.




 None of those, I don´t have a TV, I heard about the Sex and the City but I´ve never seen it really, have only seen one episode at a friend´s house and I felt totally disconnected from the world it portrayed. I couldn’t recognise myself or anyone I know in it,. And I am baffled as to why it is portrayed in the media and popular culture as some sort of explanation of all women’s priorities.




 None of those, I don´t watch TV, I am too busy living a real life.



What is Feminism?



 I don’t know. Is it a brand of perfume?




 Something ugly; I think it means that you don’t like sex and you want to spoil people’s fun.




 I read about it in history class; I don’t think it’s relevant now, I think we are ‘post-feminist’, despite the fact that the objectification of women contributes to their repression and misery in various explicit and subtle ways, as expressed through a myriad of different cultural and social dynamics. Despite the fact that a miniscule proportion of rape cases ever even go to trial, so slim is the possibility of a conviction, despite the fact that rape is used as a torture method by armies all over the world, despite the fact that many cultures systematically silence and undermine women whether it’s by stoning them for adultery or slagging them off in the press for being too fat, too thin, too much of a mother, too much of a worker, too much of a whore, not sexually available enough…Despite the fact that the men are paid more than women in practically every single profession. Despite the fact that according to the 2007 Equal Opportunities Commision at the current rate of progress it will take 60 years to reach an equal number of female directors in FTSE 100 boardrooms and another 40 general elections before women hold an equal number of parliamentary seats.

Despite all these reasons, and many more, I choose to honour the sacrifices made for me by women struggling for equality, by dressing up sexy and dying my eyelashes, by wearing high heels and manipulating male sexual desire to make me feel powerful in a world which doesn’t appreciate the realities of feminity, and which always judges me first as a sexual object before recognising me as a human being.




 It’s a state of mind, and an everyday expression of my politics – I call myself a feminist because I appreciate having the right to vote, the right to control my own contraception and reproductive freedoms, that (at least on paper) I can enter and should be allowed to flourish in any job I choose, and because I recognise that these are rights that were fought for, not freely given. Because I can see that the problems highlighted by the suffragettes, the women’s liberation movement, and by women and men working together all over the world, are real and present in my daily life, and I am reminded of it everytime a man in the street comments on my body, looks me up and down and thinks it’s their right to proposition me, sleaze on me or insult me. I see that not only is feminism important to keep fighting for true equality, but that learning to share power is the most important way we can evolve to work together for a fairer and more sustainable society.




Vocabulary Test:




Can you spell MISOGYNY? Do you know what it means? What about MISANTHROPY? Can you see anyway that they are connected?











Please scan and send this form to  smashmissccontest@gmail.com or download a PDF questionaire at www.smashmisscontest.wordpress.com before the 15 June 2009. Contestants passing to the finals will be contacted before the 22nd June 2009 for a second test. This process will repeat itself and continue until the end of January 2020, when you’ll be contacted by one of our public relation’s team who will then re-direct you to another department. Prices include: higher selfsteem, information about what really is happening in the world, common knowledge about feminism, sense of being a part of something bigger that a fucking beauty contest, a broken fridge, Smash Miss Contest badges and T-shirts, a bike trip to Hackney (all expenses included) and exclusive invitations for tea and chats at alternative social centres across London.

Smash Miss Contest
- e-mail: smashmisscontest@googlemail.com
- Homepage: http://www.smashmisscontest.wordpress.com

Additions

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO

12.03.2009 11:34

Thanks for the positive comments! Have alook at the video to see what it was really like.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNEQmYUjihM

SMC
mail e-mail: smashmisscontest@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.smashmisscontest.wordpress.com


Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

View from the Inside

11.03.2009 20:03

WE SMASHED IT!! HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED
SO…

Tuesday 10th March we went into the belly of the beast…infiltrated the dark heart of modern commercial/exploitation SLEAZY SEXISM.

We dressed up undercover, complete with crippling high heels, revealing dresses, and a sense of intense self-consciousness. Disguised as beauty pageant revellers, up for nothing more than a night of leering at skimpily dressed young women, we tottered past the other protest groups (Miss-ogynist London and Space Hijackers) and entered the hideous swanky/trashy club just off Oxford St.

As we entered we were shocked by the atmosphere; young women were up on podiums writhing against each other as groups of men leered up at them and bought them drinks. The people who hadn’t booked one of the tables (which cost hundreds of pounds and guaranteed your status within the club) were crammed around the sides of the bar, shoving each other around to get past, with ample opportunity for molesting and touching up all the young women. It was such an aggressive environment; trying to walk through the crowd was like a battle, as men were standing stock still, never accommodating anyone else’s right to have a space. Furthermore, the music was awful and beer cost £7.

As the show began, and the girls walked out one by one, looking a little awkward and wearing little dresses with sahses on them. And as all eyes were on the stage, an unpleasant smell started to emanate from all corners of the room… The stink bombs were out, making visceral and real how disgusting this event really is. Everyone was distracted and grossed out, and soon the bar staff started coming round with air fresheners, which just added an artificial fake smell and totally failed to cover it up. The presenter was trying to fan it away with her script, and the crowd was screeching and summoning the bar staff to deal with the pong around their tables.

Meanwhile, the questionnaires were being distributed, around the tables and the bar. At one point, a “curvy” contestant came out and the female presented said “Well I think I speak for all the men when I say” (and she motions to her chest) “Phwoooaaaaarrr” and the crowd erupted into bays and whoops. This sort of thing means men think it’s okay to catcall women in the street and take ownership of their bodies in this way, and we see this and suffer from it in our daily lives. To see it so normalised and celebrated was sad for all of us. Especially as we kept getting our bums pinched and receiving most unwelcome propositions.

The presenter at one point announced that “A protestor has dropped a stink bomb”, and she couldn’t have done us more of a favour. We thought it was great that at first noone was really sure what it was, there was just a rising sense of discomfort and a toxicity in the air (to add to the aggression and the testosterone). And then to have it made clear, by mic, that it was deliberate, that there was clear resistance to what they were doing, that people thought it was NOT OK, was fantastic. At this point the rape alarms were set off at different points in the room, confusing and distracting people further.

Just before the announcement of the winner (and when we had taken just about all we could take of this atmosphere), we STORMED THE STAGE scattering our open letters to the audience, giving them to the contestants on stage, and knocking over the scenery, and trampling the flowers that were the prize for the winner, before being manhandled (again!) and forcibly removed by the bouncers, complete with threats of assault once we were out the door.

Once outside, rejoicing in the victory, we had a laugh with the bouncers about the fact that they hadn’t realised we were actually secretly Feminists! And one of the bouncers interjected - “Can I just say One Thing….That was a job well done!” And we are sure that there were more people inside that club who agree with that, and who understand why we protested, than the organisers of Miss University London would care to realise. And hopefully next time they’ll think again before assuming that this kind of sexist behaviour is normalised enough to be just another money-spinner. If not, we’ll be back….

We're not Ugly, we're not Beautiful we're Angry
mail e-mail: smashmisscontest@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.smashmisscontest.wordpress.com


Gutted - I missed it!

11.03.2009 20:42

I'm so pissed off that I couldn't get there but big hugs to everyone who did and who wrecked it so beautifully.

Afem


nice one!

11.03.2009 20:49

Sounds like an excellent action. I must say the description of the event sounds even worse than I thought it might be.

A (male) supporter.

anon


Brilliant

11.03.2009 22:11

It was great reading about the actions here but even better reading about it in the Sun and the Daily Mail. Your actions were smart and and well executed. It is life-affirming to read of such young women being so clued up and pleasantly furious.
You are living proof that sexy is something you do not something you are.

Danny


Danny

12.03.2009 14:00

Totally agree with your cool comment Danny. Nice one everyone.

anon


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech