Moon left this second demonstration, where she had been photographing her fellow protesters, and went around to the back of the building. There she came upon two of the beauty queens who had participated in the contest, still wearing their evening dresses. Moon captures the women in the harsh strip light coming from the fire escape, though she used fill-in flash to bring sharpness to the image. The faces of the subjects have a pale, flat quality that makes them appear ghostly. Both are crying, their heads tilted towards each other. Capturing contrast – the glamour of the gowns, the jewellery, and the makeup, against the backdrop of a fire escape and the distress and disappointment on the faces – is typical of Moon’s emerging style. Marie Claire magazine (displayed to your right) ran this photograph in December 1970, with their article ‘Woman Beware Woman: the new face of feminist protest?’. The photograph was passed on to a writer there by Leonie Barratt, who sought Moon’s permission to use the image, and in doing so, reintroduced Moon’s work to mainstream publishing. This time, unlike when the Dagenham protest photograph became an image used worldwide, Moon was in a position to capitalise on her exposure. She had established herself as an independent photographer, and grown in confidence in her own ability. Shortly after publication of this photograph, Moon moved from her family home in Essex to London.

At this time, Moon was the only female wedding photographer in Essex. A few of Moon’s wedding photographs are displayed in this section, along with early independent journalistic work. Notice her impulse to capture the informal, at a time when traditional wedding portraits were the norm.

In 1970:

• The Equal Pay Act (a direct result of the 1968 action at Dagenham) came into law

• The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, Sexual Politics by Kate Millett and Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women’s Liberation Movement, edited by Robin Morgan, were published

• The age of majority in the UK dropped from twenty-one to eighteen and a general election in June led to a surprise victory for the Conservative Party, led by Edward Heath

• The first jumbo jet landed in Britain

• The half crown ceased to be legal tender, in preparation for the introduction of decimal currency in 1971

• The Methodist church allowed female ministers to be ordained for the first time

• The first Glastonbury music festival was held in September

• The first Page Three girl was featured in the Sun newspaper in November

• ‘In the Summertime’ by Mungo Jerry was number one in the charts for seven weeks

And the newly formed Women’s Liberation Front made a plan to disrupt the Miss World competition, held in London. Veronica Moon and Leonie Barratt, by now good friends, were there.

20 November 1970

20 November 1970

Colchester