My Herstory

This is my "herstory" of how I got into feminism and riot grrrl. This herstory also tells my story behind the Riot Grrrl Online website. Here goes my herstory:

The Story Behind The Riot Grrrl Online Website And How I Got Into Riot Grrrl (My Herstory)

How I Got Into Feminism and Riot Grrrl I became interested in riot grrrl and feminism in 1997. (12 years ago as of 2009) My interest started when I found out, through the internet, about feminism and riot grrrl. I had also heard a little bit on MTV back in 1997 about the riot grrrl movement. (I used to watch MTV, but not anymore.) I also heard about it by doing some internet searches on the band “Hole”. I found all kinds of Hole websites. I had already started listening to hole and nirvana, since 1994, through MTV. I done some research on Nirvana as well. After surfing hole and nirvana websites, I started hearing about Bikini Kill and Kathleen Hanna. I also started hearing about Tobi Vail and her past relationship with Kurt Cobain. I began listening to bikini kill and I liked their sound. The first bikini kill song I heard was “Rebel Girl”. I began going to some Bikini Kill websites. Most of the bikini kill websites were riot grrrl websites. After finding this out, I started going to a bunch of riot grrrl and feminist sites. I wanted to find more riot grrrl bands to listen to. That’s when I found out about Bratmobile and other Kill Rock Stars records musical artists. Most of those riot grrrl/feminist websites are no longer around, but some of them can still be found on Archive.org. After visiting the riot grrrl websites, I realized that riot grrrl was an underground, punk, and feminist movement. That sparked my interest in feminism, so I started discovering feminist websites.

In 2000, I realized a shortage of riot grrrl sites and most of the sites I enjoyed were gone. I guess alot of people figured that when the riot grrrl bands broke up, that riot grrrl was gone. I guess some people thought that the riot grrrl movement died. I read and researched more about riot grrrl through Yahoo! Yahoo had a lot of “grrrl” websites in their directory and I researched riot grrrl through Yahoo as well. I don’t believe in labels, but I really believed in the riot grrrl movement. After the riot grrrl websites had died, I realized that I still believed in the philosophy of riot grrrl and feminism.

In 2001, I decided I should make a riot grrrl website. I wanted to make a riot grrrl resource and information site, with some information about feminism. I wanted a website where I could add lots of pages and have an active website. I didn’t care if anyone liked my website or not, but it was something I wanted to do for myself and for fun. In a way, I wanted to connect other riot grrrls (and riot boys, feminists, and male feminists) to each other by making the website and that’s when I decided to start ‘Riot Grrrl Online’. I hoped that there were still people out there that felt the same way I did about riot grrrl.

The website was made in 2001, at angelfire. While the website was on angelfire, My online friend Shawnee (aka Deshawn) from Pennsylvania, United States made the purple Tobi Vail layout and helped me out with the website. (I still keep in touch with him.) He knew how to make layouts, but I didn't know how to make them. When the website was on angelfire, I had other pages as part of Riot Grrrl Online, but I deleted a few of those pages, once Riot Grrrl Online got hosted. I had a “female icons” page, and a few other pages that are no longer on the current RGO website. I made the website as a start to revive riot grrrl. The website can still be viewed on angelfire because I never deleted it from angelfire. Just do a search for "angelfire riot grrrl online" or "riot grrrl revolution girl style now" and you'll probably find the website.

In 2004, I got hosted on girlsvomitcandy.com, by Jilly that lives in the United Kingdom. A year later, the girlsvomitcandy.com site died. (which I knew it was going to) Jilly told me she was getting rid of the domain, but that she’d email me when my site left from there. (which she never did) The website is on archive.org now. The website started on angelfire, then moved to girlsvomitcandy.com, and is currently on hot-topic.org. After finding out that girlsvomitcandy.com was no more, I was offered the riotgrrl.co.uk domain, by Rhiannon that lives in the UK. It was her domain and is now a dead link. (Note: No, I am not talking about the current riotgrrrl.co.uk email domain that Nam also owns.) Shortly after, I was offered some space on hot-topic.org and I made plans to be hosted on hot-topic.org, but I thanked Rhiannon for offerering riotgrrl.co.uk to me. I was always a fan of her riotgrrl.co.uk domain.

In 2005, I got hosted on hot-topic.org by Nam. He lives in the United Kingdom. I met him through his now defunct Le Tigre forum on hot-topic.org. He noticed that I was in a dilemma from girlsvomitcandy.com and decided to host me. He also wanted to do something for me since I was active on his Le Tigre forum and helped spread the word about his Le Tigre forum. That’s how I wound up on hot-topic.org, not to be mistaken for the clothing company, "Hot Topic". hot-topic.org was named after the Le Tigre song “Hot Topic”. Nam helps me out with my website if it acts up, goes offline, has errors, or if I have an idea for the website. He answers my questions and gives me ideas. Nam is always there for me and for that I really appreciate him. I have him to thank for my website and for hosting me. He’s a great host and he's helped me add on to the website since it was on angelfire. Nam is a great person and he is very much appreciated. I admire his kindness and helpfulness. He knows alot about websites and computers. At first, the website was in its original purple layout here on hot-topic.org. Then, A couple of months later, Nam started using siteman (a CMS) for my website. He owns the hot-topic.org domain. The siteman version of my website was hacked twice in 2007 and was an annoyance. That’s why I decided not to use siteman anymore. In December 2007, I started using Drupal instead of siteman. Drupal has lots more features than siteman.

In 2007, I found out that alot of people were viewing my Riot Grrrl Online website and that they liked it. Nam told me that RGO was #2 on google searches for "riot grrrl". I realized that I had fans and people that liked the website. People started linking to the website and emailing me about how much they enjoy Riot Grrrl Online. I was shocked that people liked my website and that people actually viewed the website. I got lots of members on the siteman version, but now I am still getting more members with the Drupal version. In 2005, I wanted to do more riot grrrl reviving. I wanted to meet more riot grrrls and people that felt the same way I did. So, I decided to make the Riot Grrrl Online Message Board in November 2005 on proboards as part of the ‘Riot Grrrl Online’ site. In 2007, I decided I wanted more features on the proboards message board. So, I made a new Riot Grrrl Online forum on freeforums.org. In April 2008, The freeforums Riot Grrrl Online forum was hacked, but it went back to running properly and hasn't been bothered since. The freeforums forum isn’t as active as it was because the website is now using Drupal.

In February 2008, I decided to create a Riot Grrrl Online social network on ning. The RGO website was down at the time, so I decided to create a social network for people that still wanted to participate in the Riot Grrrl Online website and forums. In March 2008, I decided to create a Riot Grrrl Online blog on wordpress. The website was still down at the time and I decided to create a blog specifically about feminism and riot grrrl. The blog didn’t have updates about the website posted on it, but it does have articles, news, and other stuff on the blog. A couple months later, I decided to end the blog. It is no longer around and here I am writing a new blog called "Forwrrrd", which is what your reading right now. For the past couple of years, I have done a few riot grrrl/feminist online interviews for class projects and zines.

In December 2008, I realized that RGO was down too much. It seemed to be x10hosting's fault. Nam decided to change hosts and the website hasn't been down since. Also, In December 2008, I found out that my name and the website were mentioned in a UK riot grrrl book called "Revolution Girl Style Now". The book was published by Black Dog Publishing in 2007. I was interviewed for the book by one of the writers in 2007, Red Chidgey. Bryan (a user on the Riot Grrrl Online website) that lives in the US, told me on my riot grrrl ning website about RGO being mentioned and my name being mentioned. I didn't actually think my name or website would be mentioned in the book. I was sure that she probably interviewed alot more people besides me. RGO and myself are mentioned on page 134 in the book. The very last paragraph on that page mentions me and RGO. Bryan highlighted the part of the page that I'm listed on. He done that by making a bold rectangle around the text. Here is the page from that book: