As it turns out, the whole concept of the burning bra as a symbol of women's liberation is nothing more than an urban myth---A myth that began at the 1968 Miss America Pagent.

According to snopes.com,there was never a bonfire and no bras were ever burned.

According to Susan Brownmiller, author of American Feminine, the famous 1968 demonstration in Atlantic City did not involve bra burning:

That's a myth. It was the time of draft-card burning, and some smart headline writer decided to call it a 'bra burning' because it sounded insulting to the then-new women's movement. We only threw a bra symbolically in a trash can.

For years, women blamed an unidentified male chauvinst pig for the insult. Turns out it was a young woman reporter for the New York Post,Lindsy Van Gelder.

Sent to do a humor piece on the demonstration, she attempted to turn her assignment into a vehicle for showcasing the validity of the movement by linking it to the Vietnam War protests which, unlike the women's liberation protests, were at least being taken seriously by the press. She made reference to (hypothetical) bra-burning as a way of piggybacking the zap actions at the Miss America Pageant onto the established credibility of the draft resistance movement by implying by suggestion that if young American men were burning their draft cards in protest over being oppressed, then young American women were burning their bras in protest of the same evil, (albeit in their case perpetrated by a different oppressor).

The scheme backfired. The headline writer quickly picked up upon the possibilities of braless feminists, and "bra burning" made it into the headlines. The "draft card" nuance Van Gelder had been striving for was immediately lost (though it probably would have sailed over any number of heads anyways), swamped by the mental imagery of braless feminists screeching slogans and waving signs as they angrily demanded to be taken seriously.

38 years later, there is a new symbol of women's liberation--It's the bathrobe. Monday, February 13th is 'Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day'- a holiday that celebrates women entrepreneurs who have chosen to work from their home.

The holiday started four years ago as part of a campaign that home-based entrepreneur Kristie T launched to promote her book, I Love my Life: A Mom's Guide To Working From Home.

Like the burning bra from the 60s the visual of women sitting around in their bathrobes captured the media's attention. And some hate mail to thewebmomz blog

We were kicking off our "Doing Business in Your Bathrobe" holiday today. Just got the press release sent to 3300+ media outlets. I got several request for interviews and more information. And then there was this one that makes it seem demeaning to host a holiday celebrating mom entrepreneurs who are wearing their bathrobe for 1 day.

Sorry. It's cute, but our subscribers don't wear bathrobes to work, even when that's in their own homes. They are dressed for action, wanting to make money, so they need to make tracks on a moment's notice. Perhaps you can change our point of view!

Sincerely,

Lady's Name
Publisher and President
Website.com

What do you think? Is Doing Business in your Bathrobe Day a fun holiday to celebrate women entrepreneurs or is it completely unprofessional to joke about wearing your bathrobe even for 1 day while you are working to show your entrepreneurial pride?

Today the holiday is international with celebrations occuring in Australia, Ireland, THe UK and Canada.

Some working from home factoids.

$427 Billion is generated by home-based businesss--Entrepreneur Magazine
Newsweek estimated that by 2005 nearly 50% of all U.S. homes would have a home based busienss
Today women run 70% of home-based business: nearly 17 million. (National Center for Policy Analysis)