In September 1968, taking a cue from the antiwar protests of the youth movement, women activists (who had adopted for themselves the name feminists) staged a rowdy public demonstration against one of the nation's most cherished institutions: the Miss America pageant. About one hundred women marched up and down Atlantic City's boardwalk, chanted, and carried signs. "Ain't she sweet?," the protestors sang about the contestants, "Makin' profit off her meat." They had a huge trash can on hand, in which they dumped girdles, bras, high-heeled shoes, copies of Vogue and Ladies' Home Journal, and other symbols of their oppressed status. Later, they led a live sheep on to the boardwalk and put a crown and a sash on it. The women were arrested when they tried to disrupt the official pageant that night. Still, as one of the protesters recalled, "It was the best...