Chloe Cook
WVoN co-editor

It’s 41 years since the first Miss World protest at the Royal Albert Hall, but yesterday some of the same faces were there to protest this year’s competition.

Organised by the London Feminist Network, Object and UK Feminista, about 100 women turned up to storm Earl’s Court in London, carrying placards that read: “beauty pageants are boring”, “we’re not ugly, we’re not beautiful, we’re angry”, “being a woman is not a competition”.

“Women have fought hard over decades to establish an expectation that we will be treated equally and this type of contest just legitimises the unequal treatment of women”, said Julia Long co-organiser of the protest and activist with the London Feminist Network and Object.

“We want to make the point that it’s a totally retrograde celebration of inequality. It represents a world totally hostile to women, so any kind of nostaligia for that time is a form of retro sexism.”

Although they got some sideways glances and the occasional mouthfull from audience members, Ms Long doesn’t think they represent the average Brit.

“I think the public are largely on our side because it’s not going to be screened on terrestrial television.

“At one time the Miss World contest could command audiences of around 30 million and now there’s really very little interest in it.”

Last week former Miss England Laura Coleman asked the protesters to call off the demonstration, saying pageants like this are empowering.

“We hear this term empowerment used a lot and it’s interesting that it’s almost always used these days either when women are taking their clothes off, when they’re appearing in lads’ mags, when they’re doing lap dancing or for example when they are being judged in the Miss World contest,” said Ms Long.

“I would really question what is actually meant by empowerment in that context because each of those things, what they have in common, is the woman’s body being objectified for display and basically for consumption by a male audience.

“In a country that I would like to think prides itself on having gender equality as a very important social value I really don’t see how the judging of women on the basis of what they look like can in any way be empowering.”

You can watch a short interview with Julia Long here.

Sarah Wilson, who was at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 and also outside Earl’s Court, played a major role in the original protest.

“I was the person who was designated to give the starting signal [in 1970] with a football rattle. We had a few stall seats down the bottom near the judges, most people were in the gallery.

“When I gave the signal there was what seemed to me a very long pause before people responded. The leaflets began to cascade down and the smoke bombs began to smoke.

“We were very excited that people were doing something again. Those of us who could come came to be part of this.”

Ms Wilson says competitions like these are degrading and “objectify” women.

“They make anything they [women] have to contribute of not very great importance compared to how big their boobs are and their waist and their shape.”

She says that Miss World “makes women who don’t conform desperate”.