This story was taken from here.
Wendy O. Williams-Rock’s First Riot Grrrl
Mar 4, 2004
The Plasmatics championed rock ‘n roll chaos, gore and violence after Kiss and Alice Cooper but before Gwar and Marilyn Manson . However, they added another element to the fray. Their frontwoman, Wendy O. Williams, was a part-time porn actress with an outrageous Mohawk who wore nothing more than shaving cream or electrical tape onstage ,crashed cars, smashed TV sets and whatever stage prop was slated for demolition that evening.
The brainchild of porn producer Rod Swenson, the band consisted of sledgehammer wielding vocalist Wendy O Williams (WOW for short), guitarists Richie Stotts and Wes Beech and bassist Jean Beauvoir. The group initially played chaotic live gigs at notorious New York punk haunts like CBGBs in the late ’70s. It wasn’t long before the Plasmatics recorded their first album “New Hope For The Wretched.” In 1980 Hard to believe the quasi-metal noise of “Butcher Baby” and “Tight Black Pants” was produced by Jimmy Miller, who previously helmed albums by the Stones and Traffic. A more successful effort “Beyond The Valley of 1984″ was released the next year. Featuring “Sex Junkie” and “A Pig Is A Pig”, “1984″ is definitely a very heavy metal album, and the band’s best release. Even the futuristic Mad Max in the desert cover photograph and the accompanying video (Wendy crashing a car through a wall of TV sets) are shock-rock classics.
The band played live shows at small hole in the wall clubs where they could get away with their XXX antics. Although audiences were appreciative (one Plasmatics fans seems thrilled to have an antenna from a smashed TV set rip his hand, according to a message board posting), police in the Midwest weren’t impressed. At a show in Milwaukee, police arrested Wendy on “public indecency” charges and severely beat her and manager Swenson. 1982’s “Coup D’Etat” signaled the Plasmatics last gasp as a media-fueled metal-punk spectacle. Plasmatics material continues to be released and re-released to this day. Proving that the group had a sensitive side, the Plasmatics website released an album of the band’s collected “love” songs in 2002 “Love Songs For The Apocalypse” contained titles such as “Fuck That Booty,” “Jailbait,” and “I Love Sex.” Perfect background music for an evening at Mistress Wendy’s House of Domination. Williams released two solo albums-the Gene Simmons produced “WOW” released in 1984 and 1986’s “Kommander of Kaos.” She also recorded “No Class” and “Stand By Your Man” with Motorhead’s Lemmy. As the 1980s ended, so did Williams’ career as a punk/metal priestess and she appeared in a few films and television shows. She also promoted her interest in macrobiotic and vegetarian food, teaching a class in macrobiotic cooking at NYC’s Learning Annex in the early ’90s.
Showing posts with label riot grrl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label riot grrl. Show all posts
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
From Riot Grrrl To Alt-Mom
This article was taken from LA Times.
From Riot Grrrl to alt-mom
By Erika Schickel
February 12, 2007 in print edition E-14
SHE was there for the postfeminist revolution, marching down Fifth Avenue topless with “slut” painted on her belly. She was hanging out in clubs, interviewing Kristin Hersh and Patti Smith, rocking with the Riot Grrrls, staring down yuppies in the East Village, publishing a ‘zine, getting hitched in a gorilla mask. Her alt credentials are flawless. “Mamarama: A Memoir of Sex, Kids, & Rock ‘n’ Roll” is Evelyn McDonnell’s account of a life lived on the cultural and then maternal cutting edge.
McDonnell started out a Midwestern pop-music addict (crushing on the cartoon version of Michael Jackson in the 1970s, while her older brother swooned over Speed Racer’s limpid eyes.) She knew who she was from the get-go – “Some people are born musicians. I was born a listener” – and began her rock ‘n’ roll apprenticeship at an early age, following bands and deejaying in clubs.
“Punk rock saved my bored, zit-faced teenage life
McDonnell spent her 20s and 30s in the mosh pit of alt-pop culture, meeting her icons and helping to forge a new kind of feminism for her generation.
“It was the early ’90s, when direct activism, identity politics, hip-hop, and grunge were driving forces of the dawn of the Clinton era. We were a new breed of woman whom pundits, including some in our own ranks, struggled to name: postfeminists, womanists, Riot Grrrls, pro-sex feminists, do-me feminists (a name obviously thought up by a men’s magazine), third-wave feminists, lipstick lesbians, bitches with attitudes.”
For someone who grew up in New York and is McDonnell’s virtual contemporary, “Mamarama” is frequently a fun trip down memory lane. She captures the excitement of the East Village and the post-punk music scene in loving detail. But her rebellion, as reported here, grows to be somewhat formulaic. We know what’s coming next, and her story gets bogged down in its chronology as she tells it beat by beat, from beginning to end.
“Mamarama” sometimes reads like an incredibly long Village Voice profile. McDonnell is not without agenda and presents the facts of her life with hefty editorializing. While that often leads to insight, her prose can sometimes be as rhythmic and predictable as a fist pump – one wishes she would unclench that fist and massage the material a little more. Inject some humor and poetry, mix up the chronology, make her life story more of a mix tape than an LP.
After 179 pages of “rama,” we finally get to the “mama,” with the birth of her son, Cole. By this time, McDonnell is living in Miami (where she is currently an award-winning culture critic for the Miami Herald) with her husband and his two teenage daughters. Her son’s birth shifts her out of reminiscence and into the more immediate (and interesting) present-tense concerns of the book – reconciling a liberal, liberated lifestyle with the more conventional and traditional responsibilities and routines of parenthood.
From Riot Grrrl to alt-mom
By Erika Schickel
February 12, 2007 in print edition E-14
SHE was there for the postfeminist revolution, marching down Fifth Avenue topless with “slut” painted on her belly. She was hanging out in clubs, interviewing Kristin Hersh and Patti Smith, rocking with the Riot Grrrls, staring down yuppies in the East Village, publishing a ‘zine, getting hitched in a gorilla mask. Her alt credentials are flawless. “Mamarama: A Memoir of Sex, Kids, & Rock ‘n’ Roll” is Evelyn McDonnell’s account of a life lived on the cultural and then maternal cutting edge.
McDonnell started out a Midwestern pop-music addict (crushing on the cartoon version of Michael Jackson in the 1970s, while her older brother swooned over Speed Racer’s limpid eyes.) She knew who she was from the get-go – “Some people are born musicians. I was born a listener” – and began her rock ‘n’ roll apprenticeship at an early age, following bands and deejaying in clubs.
“Punk rock saved my bored, zit-faced teenage life
McDonnell spent her 20s and 30s in the mosh pit of alt-pop culture, meeting her icons and helping to forge a new kind of feminism for her generation.
“It was the early ’90s, when direct activism, identity politics, hip-hop, and grunge were driving forces of the dawn of the Clinton era. We were a new breed of woman whom pundits, including some in our own ranks, struggled to name: postfeminists, womanists, Riot Grrrls, pro-sex feminists, do-me feminists (a name obviously thought up by a men’s magazine), third-wave feminists, lipstick lesbians, bitches with attitudes.”
For someone who grew up in New York and is McDonnell’s virtual contemporary, “Mamarama” is frequently a fun trip down memory lane. She captures the excitement of the East Village and the post-punk music scene in loving detail. But her rebellion, as reported here, grows to be somewhat formulaic. We know what’s coming next, and her story gets bogged down in its chronology as she tells it beat by beat, from beginning to end.
“Mamarama” sometimes reads like an incredibly long Village Voice profile. McDonnell is not without agenda and presents the facts of her life with hefty editorializing. While that often leads to insight, her prose can sometimes be as rhythmic and predictable as a fist pump – one wishes she would unclench that fist and massage the material a little more. Inject some humor and poetry, mix up the chronology, make her life story more of a mix tape than an LP.
After 179 pages of “rama,” we finally get to the “mama,” with the birth of her son, Cole. By this time, McDonnell is living in Miami (where she is currently an award-winning culture critic for the Miami Herald) with her husband and his two teenage daughters. Her son’s birth shifts her out of reminiscence and into the more immediate (and interesting) present-tense concerns of the book – reconciling a liberal, liberated lifestyle with the more conventional and traditional responsibilities and routines of parenthood.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Riot Here! Riot Now! And What The Heck Is Riot Grrrl?
“riot here! riot now!”
“what is riot grrrl? it’s about love, girl-love, self-love, love grrrl style… it’s about grrrls taking control of all parts of our lives… it’s about making everyone that you encounter understand that you, and all women, deserve respect and that you’re not going to do what someone else wants, just because it’s expected of you. fuck expectations! fuck being told that we have to like boys…that we have to go to school or get married or anything! riot grrrl is about taking control of our own lives and telling other people what we will do. and that means that we each get to decide what’s right for us, not having the pariarchy dictate how we spend our time, or who we spend it with. grrrls don’t get enough support and it’s time we started supporting each other.”
(i believe the above definition was taken from a DC riot grrrl writing in the early 90’s)
So what the heck is Riot Grrrl? Depending on who you ask, it is:
(if anyone knows where this came from, let me know so i can give credit)
*a music movement that has its roots in punk rock and must be understood within that context. defining riot grrrl is much like defining punk– there is no central organization, no authoritative definition, just an attitude concerned with pointing out social hipocrisy and empowering people to
*it is activist music, ‘zines, meetings, and other activity that builds a supportive environment for women and girls and is concerned with feminist issues such as rape, abortion rights, bulemia/anorexia, beauty standards, exclusion from popular culture, the sexism of everyday life, double standards, sexuality, self-defense, fat opression, racism and classism.
*the network of ‘zines that are produced by girls and young women who identify with the music that is associated with riot grrrl. the ‘zines are often intensely personal, but that personal outlet is translated to larger political action when the ‘zines are available to the public, bringing people together for consciousness-rasing activities.
*the ethos of Riot Grrrl is about supporting each other, empowering each other, and making things happen without backstabbing, competition and more-grrrl-than-thou-ness, grrrl power is not about what the boys think, grrrl power is about separate space when we need it, and including supportive boys when we need that–but the choice is ours.
All of this was taken from: http://www.angelfire.com/rant/RGC/
“what is riot grrrl? it’s about love, girl-love, self-love, love grrrl style… it’s about grrrls taking control of all parts of our lives… it’s about making everyone that you encounter understand that you, and all women, deserve respect and that you’re not going to do what someone else wants, just because it’s expected of you. fuck expectations! fuck being told that we have to like boys…that we have to go to school or get married or anything! riot grrrl is about taking control of our own lives and telling other people what we will do. and that means that we each get to decide what’s right for us, not having the pariarchy dictate how we spend our time, or who we spend it with. grrrls don’t get enough support and it’s time we started supporting each other.”
(i believe the above definition was taken from a DC riot grrrl writing in the early 90’s)
So what the heck is Riot Grrrl? Depending on who you ask, it is:
(if anyone knows where this came from, let me know so i can give credit)
*a music movement that has its roots in punk rock and must be understood within that context. defining riot grrrl is much like defining punk– there is no central organization, no authoritative definition, just an attitude concerned with pointing out social hipocrisy and empowering people to
*it is activist music, ‘zines, meetings, and other activity that builds a supportive environment for women and girls and is concerned with feminist issues such as rape, abortion rights, bulemia/anorexia, beauty standards, exclusion from popular culture, the sexism of everyday life, double standards, sexuality, self-defense, fat opression, racism and classism.
*the network of ‘zines that are produced by girls and young women who identify with the music that is associated with riot grrrl. the ‘zines are often intensely personal, but that personal outlet is translated to larger political action when the ‘zines are available to the public, bringing people together for consciousness-rasing activities.
*the ethos of Riot Grrrl is about supporting each other, empowering each other, and making things happen without backstabbing, competition and more-grrrl-than-thou-ness, grrrl power is not about what the boys think, grrrl power is about separate space when we need it, and including supportive boys when we need that–but the choice is ours.
All of this was taken from: http://www.angelfire.com/rant/RGC/
Saturday, May 23, 2009
What Is A Riot Grrrl? And Why Is A Male Writing About It?
This article was taken from here.
What Is a Riot Grrrl? And Why is a Male Writing about it?
Written by: Ronnie Hogart (of Lucid Nation)
To understand what a riot grrrl is, you should know that May 21, 1997 CBS News reported that rape occurs every sixty seconds in the United States. Every sixty seconds a female's life is shattered, along with the lives of her loved ones. Usually when such statistics are mentioned, chauvinistic males claim they are grossly exaggerated. Well, the FBI compiled 16,000 reports by law enforcement agencies and the number of reported and confirmed cases has risen 128% since 1972; they arrived at one rape every five minutes. The National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census reported one rape every three and a half minutes. When the Crime Victim Research and Treatment Center conducted their National Women's Study they found that only one out of six rapes is ever reported. Whatever the statistics, I suggest you conduct a survey of your female friends so you can be shocked by how many have been victims of this crime. To understand what a riot grrrl is, you should know that in our allegedly free capitalist economy, women are paid seventeen cents an hour less on average for the same work, and of course that's educated white women (unless they work in the arts where they are even more underpaid). The average african american or other ethnic minority woman makes thirty cents or less to the dollar. Outside our borders women work for pennies an hour or day, consistently underpaid. Growing up in a world where all media shows an extremely narrow band of stereotypes they must fit or be ridiculed, 150,000 American women starve themselves to death yearly, so hypnotized are they by a stereotype they feel they can almost achieve. On the CD player Snoop calls them "bitches" and in every high school they are treated as such. Meanwhile, Midol is confiscated as a drug. What a bleak life most young women have to look forward to. Love and children are offered as the saving creed, but domestic abuse is one of the most under-reported and frequent crimes. Riot Grrrl happened in Olympia, Washington as the eighties turned into the nineties. Some students at Evergreen College, all female, mostly white, began applying feminism to the arts. Bands were formed like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Excuse 17. A zine revolution was born as scissors, a glue stick, a typewriter, and a friend at a copy shop or in an office with a xerox machine, were utilized to create mini magazines circulated at first by friends and then all over the world. Poster artists, poets, and every other kind of artist joined together to talk about the truth of their lives in an oppressive and dangerous society. Supposedly, the term Riot Grrrl was born when a young woman pointed out that if any other group of human beings were so viciously treated, and suffered as much violence, and across the board discrimination, there would be riots in the streets. Thus: Riot Grrrl, a girl who lives her life knowing she's in a war, instead of waking up to a day when tragic horror shatters denial. Riot Grrrl became so popular in the next couple years, the media began to report on it as a hot new trend. The leading figures of Riot Grrrl, or at least the most popular, were so completely misquoted, misrepresented, and merchandised that they called for a media black out. The entire movement disappeared. Predictably the media announced that it was a fad that died. But in fact with great discipline it retained its independence. In the summer of 1996 there were nine Riot Grrrl conventions in the U.S., gatherings of hundreds of mostly high school and college girls to hear their bands, to learn self defense in two hour workshops, to share secrets and resources and the inspiration of discovering so many allies. There are Riot Grrrls in Spain now, in Guam, Argentina, and Taiwan. Some places like Washington D.C. have highly active and organized chapters which keep archives. L.A. has a loose confederation of Riot Grrrl sympathizers who meet at certain band's shows, trade e mail from across the country, and white girls are the minority. RG music has evolved in new ways, with Olympia favoring primitive punk or lilting harmonies, often with an ironic midwestern style, while L.A. prefers a more punk/metal flavor. This is, of course, an oversimplification. Riot Grrrl has been marginalized as fashion, it has been dismissed as a dyke dating pool, and ridiculed as the whining of unpopular girls who didn'tget enough attention when they were children, but Riot Grrrl really is the beginning of an evolution, as for the first time in history a great nation's women are beginning to stir and communicate and realize that they have the right and the power to demand and achieve a society of greater equality, with sensitivity to ecology, and respect for individuality.
What Is a Riot Grrrl? And Why is a Male Writing about it?
Written by: Ronnie Hogart (of Lucid Nation)
To understand what a riot grrrl is, you should know that May 21, 1997 CBS News reported that rape occurs every sixty seconds in the United States. Every sixty seconds a female's life is shattered, along with the lives of her loved ones. Usually when such statistics are mentioned, chauvinistic males claim they are grossly exaggerated. Well, the FBI compiled 16,000 reports by law enforcement agencies and the number of reported and confirmed cases has risen 128% since 1972; they arrived at one rape every five minutes. The National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census reported one rape every three and a half minutes. When the Crime Victim Research and Treatment Center conducted their National Women's Study they found that only one out of six rapes is ever reported. Whatever the statistics, I suggest you conduct a survey of your female friends so you can be shocked by how many have been victims of this crime. To understand what a riot grrrl is, you should know that in our allegedly free capitalist economy, women are paid seventeen cents an hour less on average for the same work, and of course that's educated white women (unless they work in the arts where they are even more underpaid). The average african american or other ethnic minority woman makes thirty cents or less to the dollar. Outside our borders women work for pennies an hour or day, consistently underpaid. Growing up in a world where all media shows an extremely narrow band of stereotypes they must fit or be ridiculed, 150,000 American women starve themselves to death yearly, so hypnotized are they by a stereotype they feel they can almost achieve. On the CD player Snoop calls them "bitches" and in every high school they are treated as such. Meanwhile, Midol is confiscated as a drug. What a bleak life most young women have to look forward to. Love and children are offered as the saving creed, but domestic abuse is one of the most under-reported and frequent crimes. Riot Grrrl happened in Olympia, Washington as the eighties turned into the nineties. Some students at Evergreen College, all female, mostly white, began applying feminism to the arts. Bands were formed like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Excuse 17. A zine revolution was born as scissors, a glue stick, a typewriter, and a friend at a copy shop or in an office with a xerox machine, were utilized to create mini magazines circulated at first by friends and then all over the world. Poster artists, poets, and every other kind of artist joined together to talk about the truth of their lives in an oppressive and dangerous society. Supposedly, the term Riot Grrrl was born when a young woman pointed out that if any other group of human beings were so viciously treated, and suffered as much violence, and across the board discrimination, there would be riots in the streets. Thus: Riot Grrrl, a girl who lives her life knowing she's in a war, instead of waking up to a day when tragic horror shatters denial. Riot Grrrl became so popular in the next couple years, the media began to report on it as a hot new trend. The leading figures of Riot Grrrl, or at least the most popular, were so completely misquoted, misrepresented, and merchandised that they called for a media black out. The entire movement disappeared. Predictably the media announced that it was a fad that died. But in fact with great discipline it retained its independence. In the summer of 1996 there were nine Riot Grrrl conventions in the U.S., gatherings of hundreds of mostly high school and college girls to hear their bands, to learn self defense in two hour workshops, to share secrets and resources and the inspiration of discovering so many allies. There are Riot Grrrls in Spain now, in Guam, Argentina, and Taiwan. Some places like Washington D.C. have highly active and organized chapters which keep archives. L.A. has a loose confederation of Riot Grrrl sympathizers who meet at certain band's shows, trade e mail from across the country, and white girls are the minority. RG music has evolved in new ways, with Olympia favoring primitive punk or lilting harmonies, often with an ironic midwestern style, while L.A. prefers a more punk/metal flavor. This is, of course, an oversimplification. Riot Grrrl has been marginalized as fashion, it has been dismissed as a dyke dating pool, and ridiculed as the whining of unpopular girls who didn'tget enough attention when they were children, but Riot Grrrl really is the beginning of an evolution, as for the first time in history a great nation's women are beginning to stir and communicate and realize that they have the right and the power to demand and achieve a society of greater equality, with sensitivity to ecology, and respect for individuality.
Friday, May 22, 2009
A Riot Grrrl Guide For The Perplexed
This article was taken from here.
A Riot Grrrl Guide For The Perplexed
So what the heck is Riot Grrl? Depending on who you ask, it is:
* a music movement that has its roots in punk rock, and must be understood within that context. Defining Riot Grrl is much like defining Punk--there is no central organization, no authoritative definition, just an attitude concerned with pointing out social hypocrisy and empowering people do "do it themselves", creating a culture of their own when they see that the mainstream media doesn't reflect their concerns or provide outlets for their efforts.
* it is activist music, zines, and other activity that builds a supportive environment for women and girls and is concerned with feminist issues such as rape, abortion rights, bulemia/anorexia, beauty standards, exclusion from popular culture, the sexism of everyday life, double standards, sexuality, self-defense, fat oppression, racism, and classism.
* the network of zines that are produced by girls and young women who identify with the music that is associated with Riot Grrl. The zines are often intensely personal, but that personal outlet is translated to larger political action when the zines are available to the public, bringing people together for conventions and consciousness-raising activities
* i've heard one feminist define Riot Grrl as any feminist activism that is done by young women. Discuss?
* the ethos of Riot Grrl is about supporting each other, empowering each other, and making things happen without backstabbing, competition, and more-grrl-than-thou-ness. Grrl power is not about what the boys think, grrl power is about separate space when we need it, and including supportive boys when we need that--but the choice is ours.
A Riot Grrrl Guide For The Perplexed
So what the heck is Riot Grrl? Depending on who you ask, it is:
* a music movement that has its roots in punk rock, and must be understood within that context. Defining Riot Grrl is much like defining Punk--there is no central organization, no authoritative definition, just an attitude concerned with pointing out social hypocrisy and empowering people do "do it themselves", creating a culture of their own when they see that the mainstream media doesn't reflect their concerns or provide outlets for their efforts.
* it is activist music, zines, and other activity that builds a supportive environment for women and girls and is concerned with feminist issues such as rape, abortion rights, bulemia/anorexia, beauty standards, exclusion from popular culture, the sexism of everyday life, double standards, sexuality, self-defense, fat oppression, racism, and classism.
* the network of zines that are produced by girls and young women who identify with the music that is associated with Riot Grrl. The zines are often intensely personal, but that personal outlet is translated to larger political action when the zines are available to the public, bringing people together for conventions and consciousness-raising activities
* i've heard one feminist define Riot Grrl as any feminist activism that is done by young women. Discuss?
* the ethos of Riot Grrl is about supporting each other, empowering each other, and making things happen without backstabbing, competition, and more-grrl-than-thou-ness. Grrl power is not about what the boys think, grrl power is about separate space when we need it, and including supportive boys when we need that--but the choice is ours.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Me And Riot Grrrl
This article was taken from: Grrrl Love Is Good Love, an old riot grrrl website that was made by Jeannie Gynarchy and the article was last updated on January 5, 1998.
Me And Riot Grrrl
i wrote all of this at one point or another. some of it is from my zine, some is from an essay i wrote about riot grrrl. the first part is kinda choppy because i was writing off the top of my head.
i think that riot grrrl and feminism are similar in the way that a square and a rectangle are related. riot grrrl is feminism like a square is a rectangle, but feminism is not only riot grrrl, just like a rectangle is not only a square. riot grrrl is a type of feminism like a square is a tape of rectangle. that may seem like a silly comparision but that's the best way for me to describe it. i think that riot grrrl is to be taken as it was created, a punk feminist movement. riot grrrl can only exist in the punk scene. once you move it out it becomes invalid to the real world. that's not to say that punk is not part of the real world, it's just a small part of the world. riot grrrl could not have existed at any other time in history except maybe in the 1970's during the first punk revolution. and i think that riot grrrl will die when the punk scene dies. so it's up to us to make sure that never cease to exist. riot grrrl incorporates feminist ideals and uses them to de-gender the punk scene. punk rock is not just for boys anymore. feminism and riot grrrl can become sexist of course... saying man = evil, man = rape etc. the true meaning of riot grrrl is equality. no man is better than a woman and vice versa. riot grrrls may lose sight of that sometimes. another problem i see with riot grrrl is becoming homosexualist for lack of a better word. there is nothing wrong with being straight. there is nothing wrong with being gay. there is nothing wrong with being bisexual. on several occasions i have felt guilty for being bisexual and having a boyfriend. riot grrrl preaches choice and i choose to have a boyfriend and that should be respected, not condemned. along the same lines i feel guilty sometimes for having a child. that i am a breeder. that the revolution has no place for me when i have to take my son along with me. riot grrrl should embrace everyone, not just single, white young girls. too often riot grrrl becomes a single sexed, single raced group.
i think that feminism today speaks more to women in the workforce and not to girls in school or around that age. women who don't work. in that respect i see that riot grrrl is a good way to teach young girls that they aren't dumb, they don't have to be quiet, they don't have to smile and look pretty, that they are important and demand respect. high school and college-aged women have a better chance of reaching younger girls in elementary school and even younger. younger girls need a strong female role model to look up to and i think that women my age make great role models. elementary school girls can relate better to college/high school age women better because there isn't the age gap there is with women past the college years. i think we as a gender and a society can benefit a whole lot by women in their 30s and 40s and beyond but we can also benefit equally from women still in high school and college. each have experiences that can be shared and learned from.
i definitely think that riot grrrl makes feminism much more attractive to younger women. when a girl reads about feminists of the seventies and the radical actions taken, she may be thrown off because there is no way to compete with such direct action. although i believe strongly for direct action, i don't necessarily feel that it's the way to get things done. you have to infiltrate the system from the inside, you aren't going to change much by spraypainting, flyering, etc. riot grrrl definitely opens the door for girls who don't want to risk jail and working in the middle of the nite undercover. zines are an incredible tool for feminists/riot grrrls, if they are distributed properly. you can't change much if you are preaching to the already converted. zines need to get out to people who don't know what's going on in the world. it's very difficult to accomplish that task though. the same goes for music. it's too bad radio stations don't play grrrl rock. that would be a huge way of getting out to people who don't know.
i don't really think there is a difference between feminist and femuhnist. to me femuhnist just seems to have more force behind it, like when you say it out loud. you are taking the feminine out of feminist and putting in power and strength. that's the only reason why i use the word femuhnist instead of feminist.
the lack of any sort of riot grrrl organization or even contacts where i live presents a problem for me, that i can only do so much. i write a girl punk zine, i am in various women's groups, i have webpages on riot grrrl, i am starting a distro for other riot grrrl/feminist zines, etc. but i am still lacking the organization that i want. somehow i want to incorporate all of my projects into one, perhaps in a riot grrrl chapter of my own. i am not sure what other riot grrrrl chapters do at their meetings, but i want to do something that not only benefits myself but also benefits the community. perhaps working at a shelter or a soup kitchen, holding a convention for everyone, not just riot grrrls. i see a lot of problems with conventions these days... why convert the already converted? i want to bring more people into the revolution. i think that is the only way to make a difference.
i consider myself a riot grrrl because riot grrrl was something that spoke to me, it gave me that voice that i spent so many years looking for. i heard a bikini kill record when i was 16 and i said, this is what i have been wanting to say forever, i want to learn more. so i went out and found all i could about riot grrrl (at that time there was very little) and read everything i could by kathleen hanna, bought all the records i could, and learned about as much as my head could manage. riot grrrl just fit perfectly with my already formed ideals, beliefs and morals.
i can relate to getting pissed off at the world, at the patriarchy, at shit that happens to my friends because of their boyfriends. not only the bad things, but the idea of sisterhood, as long as we don't forget that we are all different and we can't overlook our differences. i like the idea of girl love and the system of support i have found within the riot grrrl community as a whole.
i have problems identifying with riot grrl because i think it's more of a young girl's movement, like around 15 or 16, and i still haven't grown out of it since i was that age. i don't like the fashion dilemma of denying femininity and redefining it for ourselves, but still wearing baby doll dresses and acting like little girls. no one is going to treat us seriously if we don't look and act like it. i guess i never really got into the clothing bit, just because i was a punk first and i will always put punk above riot grrrl. i also don't like that motherhood is completely forgotten in the whole revolution bit. it's such a beautiful thing although i wouldn't recommend it to someone as young as most riot grrrls, but i think a lot of grrls can learn a lot from those who have children and have been around for a while. that didn't come out the way i wanted it to, i would just like to see motherhood addressed more often in the riot grrrl community. now that i think about it, i also don't like the idea that every riot grrrl knows all there is to know about the revolution and the meaning of riot grrrl. i never go for defining riot grrrl anyways because to me it's always changing because i am always learning more and more about riot grrl and if i make a definition of riot grrrl, i would automatically exclude a grrl that didn't fit in.
you know what's funny? i was reading my women's studies homework and it was talking about how barbie is bad and i started thinking about how riot grrrls are supposed to be feminists and all but we all idolize girlie icons like barbie and rainbow brite and punky brewster. i thought it was sort of hypocritical. mike reminded me last nite that it was about being a strong female and although riot grrrls wear baby doll dresses and carry strawberry shortcake lunchboxes, we are still strong women. i guess that's what riot grrrl is all about.
someone, whose name shall not be mentioned, asked me how i can bee a riot grrrl and like bands such as rancid, 311, bad religion, green day (yah, i dig old skool green day) etc. i love riot grrrl bands, too. bikini kill, the frumpies, bratmobile, sleater ~ kinney, slant 6, h2b, etc. riot grrrl does not encompass my entire being. riot grrrl is a PART of me. part of the whole. in my mind, i have my grrrl values and beliefs, but there is sooooo much more to me than just a grrrl. and according to some people i'm not even a grrrl because i wear make~up and i prefer skate clothes to anything else. yes, i am a riot grrrl, but i am also a skater, a punk, a nerd, a mother, a snowboarder. each of these things contribute to my beliefs. riot grrrl is a support network for me. i can tell my grrrrlsanything and they will listen, respond, react. i have no fear of being criticized, cut down, patronized, etc. i find more love from my grrrrls than i do in my family and from my other friends. and it is unfortunate that they all live so far away. but i have been sent more hugs, kisses, wipings of tears, over this toy of mine called a computer than i have gotten in an enitre year from anyone else. these grrrrls listen to others problems and then offer their support and understanding.
O+ womyn are a silent majority. over half of the world's population is made up of womyn. white, black, hispanic, poor, wealthy, disabled, straight, gay, bisexual... we are all womyn. embrace womyn and sisterhood and the common bonds between us womyn but do not forget the differences that make each one of us a separate and individual womyn. stand up and fight. riot. riot loudly. riot quietly. just riot. take the tape from your mouth that society put there and fucking riot. don't lie down and let this patriarchal system use you for a doormat. +O
I tried very hard not to sound stuck-up, self-righteous or elitist in this article but I’m afraid it comes across that way... I apologize. I was called a riot grrrl even before I knew what it was. Then one day I found some stuff written by riot grrrls and I was hooked. At the time I bought into the whole riot grrrl image, writing “slut” on my stomach, wearing cute little barrettes and short baby doll dresses and screaming “suck my left one” to every guy that I made contact with. I was everything that I hate in riot grrrl now. I was a man-hater, not a womyn-lover. I was the stereotypical riot grrrl. But then over time my attitudes changed and I changed my hair and my clothes and started spending my time actually reading about riot grrrls. What I learned changed my outlook on many things, life, love, hate, sexuality, almost everything. I no longer looked at riot grrrl as a fashion statement or shock culture. I saw it for what it was meant to be, a punk-feminist movement, pushing for equality for both men and womyn. The term riot grrrl has come to mean something negative, and although many riot grrrls bitch about why everyone hates them, it didn’t come out of nowhere. There are still the “grrrls” that call themselves riot grrrls because they saw it in Sassy magazine or MTV did a special on it. The same goes for the term “straight edge”, but I’ll save my comments on that for a future issue. But a true riot grrrl understands the politics behind the lunchbox and pigtails. There are many bands that are riot grrrl bands, such as Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Cold Cold Hearts, the Frumpies, and the list goes on. But not every females band is a riot grrrl band. Not every punk womyn is a riot grrrl. Just because a womyn listens to Bikini Kill does not mean she is a riot grrrl, and you do not have to be a riot grrrl to listen to Bikini Kill. I absolutely hate when people call my best friend a riot grrrl. Although she and I are alike in many ways, she feels that the term “riot grrrl” is offensive and does not want to be called a riot grrrl. I, on the other hand, am proud to be a riot grrrl and don’t mind being called one. Riot grrrl is not a club. You do not have to send $20 to the riot grrrl headquarters to get your membership card and free T-shirt. You don’t have to wear your hair in barrettes and have on a cute little frilly dress. You don’t have to know all there is to know about Kathleen Hanna. Riot grrrl is not something that is right for everyone. But it’s right for me and that’s all that matters. Next issue I am going to try and do the history of riot grrrl and provide info. about grrrls.
that's all i have for now. when i write more or i find more of my stuff i will post it. thanks for listening to me.
Me And Riot Grrrl
i wrote all of this at one point or another. some of it is from my zine, some is from an essay i wrote about riot grrrl. the first part is kinda choppy because i was writing off the top of my head.
i think that riot grrrl and feminism are similar in the way that a square and a rectangle are related. riot grrrl is feminism like a square is a rectangle, but feminism is not only riot grrrl, just like a rectangle is not only a square. riot grrrl is a type of feminism like a square is a tape of rectangle. that may seem like a silly comparision but that's the best way for me to describe it. i think that riot grrrl is to be taken as it was created, a punk feminist movement. riot grrrl can only exist in the punk scene. once you move it out it becomes invalid to the real world. that's not to say that punk is not part of the real world, it's just a small part of the world. riot grrrl could not have existed at any other time in history except maybe in the 1970's during the first punk revolution. and i think that riot grrrl will die when the punk scene dies. so it's up to us to make sure that never cease to exist. riot grrrl incorporates feminist ideals and uses them to de-gender the punk scene. punk rock is not just for boys anymore. feminism and riot grrrl can become sexist of course... saying man = evil, man = rape etc. the true meaning of riot grrrl is equality. no man is better than a woman and vice versa. riot grrrls may lose sight of that sometimes. another problem i see with riot grrrl is becoming homosexualist for lack of a better word. there is nothing wrong with being straight. there is nothing wrong with being gay. there is nothing wrong with being bisexual. on several occasions i have felt guilty for being bisexual and having a boyfriend. riot grrrl preaches choice and i choose to have a boyfriend and that should be respected, not condemned. along the same lines i feel guilty sometimes for having a child. that i am a breeder. that the revolution has no place for me when i have to take my son along with me. riot grrrl should embrace everyone, not just single, white young girls. too often riot grrrl becomes a single sexed, single raced group.
i think that feminism today speaks more to women in the workforce and not to girls in school or around that age. women who don't work. in that respect i see that riot grrrl is a good way to teach young girls that they aren't dumb, they don't have to be quiet, they don't have to smile and look pretty, that they are important and demand respect. high school and college-aged women have a better chance of reaching younger girls in elementary school and even younger. younger girls need a strong female role model to look up to and i think that women my age make great role models. elementary school girls can relate better to college/high school age women better because there isn't the age gap there is with women past the college years. i think we as a gender and a society can benefit a whole lot by women in their 30s and 40s and beyond but we can also benefit equally from women still in high school and college. each have experiences that can be shared and learned from.
i definitely think that riot grrrl makes feminism much more attractive to younger women. when a girl reads about feminists of the seventies and the radical actions taken, she may be thrown off because there is no way to compete with such direct action. although i believe strongly for direct action, i don't necessarily feel that it's the way to get things done. you have to infiltrate the system from the inside, you aren't going to change much by spraypainting, flyering, etc. riot grrrl definitely opens the door for girls who don't want to risk jail and working in the middle of the nite undercover. zines are an incredible tool for feminists/riot grrrls, if they are distributed properly. you can't change much if you are preaching to the already converted. zines need to get out to people who don't know what's going on in the world. it's very difficult to accomplish that task though. the same goes for music. it's too bad radio stations don't play grrrl rock. that would be a huge way of getting out to people who don't know.
i don't really think there is a difference between feminist and femuhnist. to me femuhnist just seems to have more force behind it, like when you say it out loud. you are taking the feminine out of feminist and putting in power and strength. that's the only reason why i use the word femuhnist instead of feminist.
the lack of any sort of riot grrrl organization or even contacts where i live presents a problem for me, that i can only do so much. i write a girl punk zine, i am in various women's groups, i have webpages on riot grrrl, i am starting a distro for other riot grrrl/feminist zines, etc. but i am still lacking the organization that i want. somehow i want to incorporate all of my projects into one, perhaps in a riot grrrl chapter of my own. i am not sure what other riot grrrrl chapters do at their meetings, but i want to do something that not only benefits myself but also benefits the community. perhaps working at a shelter or a soup kitchen, holding a convention for everyone, not just riot grrrls. i see a lot of problems with conventions these days... why convert the already converted? i want to bring more people into the revolution. i think that is the only way to make a difference.
i consider myself a riot grrrl because riot grrrl was something that spoke to me, it gave me that voice that i spent so many years looking for. i heard a bikini kill record when i was 16 and i said, this is what i have been wanting to say forever, i want to learn more. so i went out and found all i could about riot grrrl (at that time there was very little) and read everything i could by kathleen hanna, bought all the records i could, and learned about as much as my head could manage. riot grrrl just fit perfectly with my already formed ideals, beliefs and morals.
i can relate to getting pissed off at the world, at the patriarchy, at shit that happens to my friends because of their boyfriends. not only the bad things, but the idea of sisterhood, as long as we don't forget that we are all different and we can't overlook our differences. i like the idea of girl love and the system of support i have found within the riot grrrl community as a whole.
i have problems identifying with riot grrl because i think it's more of a young girl's movement, like around 15 or 16, and i still haven't grown out of it since i was that age. i don't like the fashion dilemma of denying femininity and redefining it for ourselves, but still wearing baby doll dresses and acting like little girls. no one is going to treat us seriously if we don't look and act like it. i guess i never really got into the clothing bit, just because i was a punk first and i will always put punk above riot grrrl. i also don't like that motherhood is completely forgotten in the whole revolution bit. it's such a beautiful thing although i wouldn't recommend it to someone as young as most riot grrrls, but i think a lot of grrls can learn a lot from those who have children and have been around for a while. that didn't come out the way i wanted it to, i would just like to see motherhood addressed more often in the riot grrrl community. now that i think about it, i also don't like the idea that every riot grrrl knows all there is to know about the revolution and the meaning of riot grrrl. i never go for defining riot grrrl anyways because to me it's always changing because i am always learning more and more about riot grrl and if i make a definition of riot grrrl, i would automatically exclude a grrl that didn't fit in.
you know what's funny? i was reading my women's studies homework and it was talking about how barbie is bad and i started thinking about how riot grrrls are supposed to be feminists and all but we all idolize girlie icons like barbie and rainbow brite and punky brewster. i thought it was sort of hypocritical. mike reminded me last nite that it was about being a strong female and although riot grrrls wear baby doll dresses and carry strawberry shortcake lunchboxes, we are still strong women. i guess that's what riot grrrl is all about.
someone, whose name shall not be mentioned, asked me how i can bee a riot grrrl and like bands such as rancid, 311, bad religion, green day (yah, i dig old skool green day) etc. i love riot grrrl bands, too. bikini kill, the frumpies, bratmobile, sleater ~ kinney, slant 6, h2b, etc. riot grrrl does not encompass my entire being. riot grrrl is a PART of me. part of the whole. in my mind, i have my grrrl values and beliefs, but there is sooooo much more to me than just a grrrl. and according to some people i'm not even a grrrl because i wear make~up and i prefer skate clothes to anything else. yes, i am a riot grrrl, but i am also a skater, a punk, a nerd, a mother, a snowboarder. each of these things contribute to my beliefs. riot grrrl is a support network for me. i can tell my grrrrlsanything and they will listen, respond, react. i have no fear of being criticized, cut down, patronized, etc. i find more love from my grrrrls than i do in my family and from my other friends. and it is unfortunate that they all live so far away. but i have been sent more hugs, kisses, wipings of tears, over this toy of mine called a computer than i have gotten in an enitre year from anyone else. these grrrrls listen to others problems and then offer their support and understanding.
O+ womyn are a silent majority. over half of the world's population is made up of womyn. white, black, hispanic, poor, wealthy, disabled, straight, gay, bisexual... we are all womyn. embrace womyn and sisterhood and the common bonds between us womyn but do not forget the differences that make each one of us a separate and individual womyn. stand up and fight. riot. riot loudly. riot quietly. just riot. take the tape from your mouth that society put there and fucking riot. don't lie down and let this patriarchal system use you for a doormat. +O
I tried very hard not to sound stuck-up, self-righteous or elitist in this article but I’m afraid it comes across that way... I apologize. I was called a riot grrrl even before I knew what it was. Then one day I found some stuff written by riot grrrls and I was hooked. At the time I bought into the whole riot grrrl image, writing “slut” on my stomach, wearing cute little barrettes and short baby doll dresses and screaming “suck my left one” to every guy that I made contact with. I was everything that I hate in riot grrrl now. I was a man-hater, not a womyn-lover. I was the stereotypical riot grrrl. But then over time my attitudes changed and I changed my hair and my clothes and started spending my time actually reading about riot grrrls. What I learned changed my outlook on many things, life, love, hate, sexuality, almost everything. I no longer looked at riot grrrl as a fashion statement or shock culture. I saw it for what it was meant to be, a punk-feminist movement, pushing for equality for both men and womyn. The term riot grrrl has come to mean something negative, and although many riot grrrls bitch about why everyone hates them, it didn’t come out of nowhere. There are still the “grrrls” that call themselves riot grrrls because they saw it in Sassy magazine or MTV did a special on it. The same goes for the term “straight edge”, but I’ll save my comments on that for a future issue. But a true riot grrrl understands the politics behind the lunchbox and pigtails. There are many bands that are riot grrrl bands, such as Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Cold Cold Hearts, the Frumpies, and the list goes on. But not every females band is a riot grrrl band. Not every punk womyn is a riot grrrl. Just because a womyn listens to Bikini Kill does not mean she is a riot grrrl, and you do not have to be a riot grrrl to listen to Bikini Kill. I absolutely hate when people call my best friend a riot grrrl. Although she and I are alike in many ways, she feels that the term “riot grrrl” is offensive and does not want to be called a riot grrrl. I, on the other hand, am proud to be a riot grrrl and don’t mind being called one. Riot grrrl is not a club. You do not have to send $20 to the riot grrrl headquarters to get your membership card and free T-shirt. You don’t have to wear your hair in barrettes and have on a cute little frilly dress. You don’t have to know all there is to know about Kathleen Hanna. Riot grrrl is not something that is right for everyone. But it’s right for me and that’s all that matters. Next issue I am going to try and do the history of riot grrrl and provide info. about grrrls.
that's all i have for now. when i write more or i find more of my stuff i will post it. thanks for listening to me.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
I'm Sorry....No I'm Not
Written by: Kathleen Hanna for a zine in the early 1990's
I'm Sorry....No I'm Not
I'm sorry I don't believe it.
I'm sorry that I care.
no i'm not.
I'm not sorry that i still believe we are capable of creating something. that i don't think punk is just a big joke and that we should be little and make fun of ourselves for still believing that everything we do makes a difference
i don't care that it's no longer punk to have fun anymore. that it's no longer punk to criticize the society we live in.
so
what if i keep talking about abolishing wage-slavery while i keep working. it fucking beats the hell out of writing songs or zines about how we are all hypocrites and all our actions are worthless.
we are all hypocritical superwimps (?). we are never (?)
SO IF YOU'RE BEING ALL PUNK AS FUCK AND TALKING SHIT ABOUT PEOPLE AT LEAST TRY TO DO SOMETHING THAN I'M (NOT) SORRY BUT I GUESS THAT MEANS I'M NOT PUNK ANYMORE AND IF THAT'S WHAT PUNK IS I'M FUCKIN GLAD I'M NOT AS PUNK AS YOU
[Kathleen]
I am a fucking idiot. I still think we can change the world.
I'm Sorry....No I'm Not
I'm sorry I don't believe it.
I'm sorry that I care.
no i'm not.
I'm not sorry that i still believe we are capable of creating something. that i don't think punk is just a big joke and that we should be little and make fun of ourselves for still believing that everything we do makes a difference
i don't care that it's no longer punk to have fun anymore. that it's no longer punk to criticize the society we live in.
so
what if i keep talking about abolishing wage-slavery while i keep working. it fucking beats the hell out of writing songs or zines about how we are all hypocrites and all our actions are worthless.
we are all hypocritical superwimps (?). we are never (?)
SO IF YOU'RE BEING ALL PUNK AS FUCK AND TALKING SHIT ABOUT PEOPLE AT LEAST TRY TO DO SOMETHING THAN I'M (NOT) SORRY BUT I GUESS THAT MEANS I'M NOT PUNK ANYMORE AND IF THAT'S WHAT PUNK IS I'M FUCKIN GLAD I'M NOT AS PUNK AS YOU
[Kathleen]
I am a fucking idiot. I still think we can change the world.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
What Is Riot Grrrl, Anyway?
The article below was taken from: http://web.archive.org/web/19990117024141/www.columbia.edu/~rli3/music_html/bikini_kill/girl.html at archive.org. The article was written by a girl named Spirit and the article was written in 1995.
1-6-95
By Spirit
What Is A Riot Grrrl Anyway?
I was fourteen when I first heard about riot grrrl. By that time it had been all over MTV, fashion and news magazines and newspapers yet this was the first time I had heard of it – in a small local entertainment newspaper. I don’t know how long riot grrrl had existed before the media got its slimy hands all over it but I know, from experience, how much it changed afterward.
I was attracted to the idea of riot grrrl initially because the beliefs I thought riot grrrl was about were ones I had always had myself. The San Jose punk scene isn’t very political or issue oriented (not to say that it should or shouldn’t be) so I often felt alienated and isolated in my beliefs which were all generally anarchistic, anti-fascist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobic. Most of the time I was the only girl around, when there were others everyone knew they wouldn’t stay long – they were always just fucking one of the guys in the scene and they were never punx. I was surrounded by “punks” to whom punk had no meaning and my motivation was suppressed. My impression of riot grrrl as conveyed by that small article was: punk rock girls having the beliefs fore-mentioned, creating a scene alternative to the one that they found themselves rejected by. It was that simple. Who can argue with that? The early riot grrrl scene was inclusive of boys and girls, preserved D.I.Y. punk rock methods and morals, and wasn’t threatening to any other groups, people, or interests. Riot grrrl -the idea, the movement, the non-localized group, whatever -inspired literally hundreds of girls to do zines, start bands, collectives, distributions, have meetings etc. The uprising of riot grrrl has been the only activity in the scene most of us have seen in years, yet most of you probably don’t know what a riot grrrrl is and does, why we face so much opposition or who started it.
I won't offer a definition because it wouldn’t be fair to other grrrls to whom riot grrrl may mean something totally different. I will however offer my insight on what I have seen happen… After the height of mainstream media coverage, many of the more productive and popular chapters such as Olympia and D.C. decided to sort of “close up shop”. Refusing to answer most of their mail, rejecting interview requests, changing meeting locations or canceling them all together seemed like the only way to stop further exploitation, misquoting, and such. If a barrette wearing, magic markered, thirteen year old looking 20 year old was what the words “riot grrrl” would be translated as, they didn’t want it. The mainstream media-what seemed like the best medium for communication, the best way to spread “girl love” – had failed us. In fact, it had come close to destroying us. In some ways I think it did. Lots of girls have been inspired by the idea of riot grrrl after having heard about it through some magazine or TV show. They’ve begun to question, challenge, create, demand…others have learned nothing more than a hot, new, cute way to dress.
The most destructive and inaccurate image of a riot grrrl portrayed by the media was that of a lesbian, man-hating, ignorant, violent, bitter, bitch, an image that has followed feminism before it was feminism. Unfortunately, some girls, imitated the most negative aspects of this image blindly, giving riot grrrl a bad name. I disapprove of all violence outside of self-defense and am hurt when I hear stories of riot grrrls beating up boys “for no reason” or “because they are boys”. Usually these stories are bunk by the time they get back to us but I know this sometimes (rarely but sometimes) happens and it’s embarrassing. Does this scenario sound familiar? It should… to each and every one of you. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, turn on MTV right now. Chances are there’ s a Green Day, Rancid, Nirvana, or clone of one of those three bands on. Is a rich, homophobic, sexist, jock with a wallet chain and Doc’s a fair representation of a punk rocker? Is Sid Vicious even a realistic punker? What’s happening to punk right now and what happened to it in the early 80’s is exactly what’s happened to riot grrrl. For those of you who have had bad experiences with girls who call themselves riot grrrls, please remember that we are all fucking different! In every class, race, scene, etc. there are pollutant people – people who just want to get a piece of the action or feel like they belong
How can we fight the patriarchal, corporate, racist system when we’re fighting each other? When punks are rejecting riot grrrl for not being punk enough, when riot grrrls are rejecting punks for not being conscious enough, it is apparent that all of us have let the media’s image of us affect our behavior and treatment of each other. Riot grrrls – the strongest, the truest of us will outlast the trendiness. Our networking through mail, the internet, through music, through zines and through the punk scene keeps us closely knit and strong. Just as the punk scene itself does the same – no matter how many records Offspring sells or how many cheerleaders wear Doc Martens with 100 dollar outfits.
So where’s the riot? The riot can happen inside each of us, male and female. The riot is something that happens everyday. we are changing the rules, the codes, the fucking standards.
Think of Crass, Vice Squad, The Avengers, Blondie, Naked Aggression, Spitboy….think of Emma Goldman, Valerie Solonas… riot grrrl didn’t invent punk rock feminism. We are simply reclaiming our place/voice in punk rock- a voice we’ve always had that’s been trampled on.
The following quote is from Jennifer Miro of the old punk band, “The Nuns”. She is commenting on what she saw happening towards the end of 1977. *”Later it became this macho hardcore thrasher punk scene and that was not what it was about at first. There were a lot of women in the beginning. It was women doing things. Then it became this whole macho, anti-women thing. Then women didn’t go to see punk bands anymore because they were afraid of getting killed. I didn’t even go because it was so violent and so macho that it was repulsive. Women just got squeezed out”. I’ll be damned if I ever let that happen to me or any grrrl I know again.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t consider myself a spokesperson for riot grrrl, only for myself and I happen to consider myself a riot grrrl. My word is no more than my word of experience and indirect knowledge (reading, stories I’ve been told, etc..). Therefore what i say about riot grrrl should be considered only one girls p.o.v.
* Quote by Jennifer Miro from Punk “77 by James Stark.
1-6-95
By Spirit
What Is A Riot Grrrl Anyway?
I was fourteen when I first heard about riot grrrl. By that time it had been all over MTV, fashion and news magazines and newspapers yet this was the first time I had heard of it – in a small local entertainment newspaper. I don’t know how long riot grrrl had existed before the media got its slimy hands all over it but I know, from experience, how much it changed afterward.
I was attracted to the idea of riot grrrl initially because the beliefs I thought riot grrrl was about were ones I had always had myself. The San Jose punk scene isn’t very political or issue oriented (not to say that it should or shouldn’t be) so I often felt alienated and isolated in my beliefs which were all generally anarchistic, anti-fascist, anti-sexist, and anti-homophobic. Most of the time I was the only girl around, when there were others everyone knew they wouldn’t stay long – they were always just fucking one of the guys in the scene and they were never punx. I was surrounded by “punks” to whom punk had no meaning and my motivation was suppressed. My impression of riot grrrl as conveyed by that small article was: punk rock girls having the beliefs fore-mentioned, creating a scene alternative to the one that they found themselves rejected by. It was that simple. Who can argue with that? The early riot grrrl scene was inclusive of boys and girls, preserved D.I.Y. punk rock methods and morals, and wasn’t threatening to any other groups, people, or interests. Riot grrrl -the idea, the movement, the non-localized group, whatever -inspired literally hundreds of girls to do zines, start bands, collectives, distributions, have meetings etc. The uprising of riot grrrl has been the only activity in the scene most of us have seen in years, yet most of you probably don’t know what a riot grrrrl is and does, why we face so much opposition or who started it.
I won't offer a definition because it wouldn’t be fair to other grrrls to whom riot grrrl may mean something totally different. I will however offer my insight on what I have seen happen… After the height of mainstream media coverage, many of the more productive and popular chapters such as Olympia and D.C. decided to sort of “close up shop”. Refusing to answer most of their mail, rejecting interview requests, changing meeting locations or canceling them all together seemed like the only way to stop further exploitation, misquoting, and such. If a barrette wearing, magic markered, thirteen year old looking 20 year old was what the words “riot grrrl” would be translated as, they didn’t want it. The mainstream media-what seemed like the best medium for communication, the best way to spread “girl love” – had failed us. In fact, it had come close to destroying us. In some ways I think it did. Lots of girls have been inspired by the idea of riot grrrl after having heard about it through some magazine or TV show. They’ve begun to question, challenge, create, demand…others have learned nothing more than a hot, new, cute way to dress.
The most destructive and inaccurate image of a riot grrrl portrayed by the media was that of a lesbian, man-hating, ignorant, violent, bitter, bitch, an image that has followed feminism before it was feminism. Unfortunately, some girls, imitated the most negative aspects of this image blindly, giving riot grrrl a bad name. I disapprove of all violence outside of self-defense and am hurt when I hear stories of riot grrrls beating up boys “for no reason” or “because they are boys”. Usually these stories are bunk by the time they get back to us but I know this sometimes (rarely but sometimes) happens and it’s embarrassing. Does this scenario sound familiar? It should… to each and every one of you. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, turn on MTV right now. Chances are there’ s a Green Day, Rancid, Nirvana, or clone of one of those three bands on. Is a rich, homophobic, sexist, jock with a wallet chain and Doc’s a fair representation of a punk rocker? Is Sid Vicious even a realistic punker? What’s happening to punk right now and what happened to it in the early 80’s is exactly what’s happened to riot grrrl. For those of you who have had bad experiences with girls who call themselves riot grrrls, please remember that we are all fucking different! In every class, race, scene, etc. there are pollutant people – people who just want to get a piece of the action or feel like they belong
How can we fight the patriarchal, corporate, racist system when we’re fighting each other? When punks are rejecting riot grrrl for not being punk enough, when riot grrrls are rejecting punks for not being conscious enough, it is apparent that all of us have let the media’s image of us affect our behavior and treatment of each other. Riot grrrls – the strongest, the truest of us will outlast the trendiness. Our networking through mail, the internet, through music, through zines and through the punk scene keeps us closely knit and strong. Just as the punk scene itself does the same – no matter how many records Offspring sells or how many cheerleaders wear Doc Martens with 100 dollar outfits.
So where’s the riot? The riot can happen inside each of us, male and female. The riot is something that happens everyday. we are changing the rules, the codes, the fucking standards.
Think of Crass, Vice Squad, The Avengers, Blondie, Naked Aggression, Spitboy….think of Emma Goldman, Valerie Solonas… riot grrrl didn’t invent punk rock feminism. We are simply reclaiming our place/voice in punk rock- a voice we’ve always had that’s been trampled on.
The following quote is from Jennifer Miro of the old punk band, “The Nuns”. She is commenting on what she saw happening towards the end of 1977. *”Later it became this macho hardcore thrasher punk scene and that was not what it was about at first. There were a lot of women in the beginning. It was women doing things. Then it became this whole macho, anti-women thing. Then women didn’t go to see punk bands anymore because they were afraid of getting killed. I didn’t even go because it was so violent and so macho that it was repulsive. Women just got squeezed out”. I’ll be damned if I ever let that happen to me or any grrrl I know again.
DISCLAIMER: I don’t consider myself a spokesperson for riot grrrl, only for myself and I happen to consider myself a riot grrrl. My word is no more than my word of experience and indirect knowledge (reading, stories I’ve been told, etc..). Therefore what i say about riot grrrl should be considered only one girls p.o.v.
* Quote by Jennifer Miro from Punk “77 by James Stark.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Grrrl Power Is
The article below isn't about the Spice Girls version of "girl power". We're talking about "grrrl power" as in riot grrrl. I got this from an OLD riot grrrl website I used to visit called "++riot grrrls please stand up++", which is no longer around. However, the website can still be viewed here: http://web.archive.org/web/20021021055134/www.geocities.com/Wellesley/6788/index2.html on the archive.org website. Thanks to archive.org for letting me be able to still visit my favorite old riot grrrl websites from back in the day. The article was written by: Jessica Giusti in 1999, when the website was still online.
Grrrl Power is...
feeling okay about being a girl: Be proud! We ROCK!
promoting girl love and friendship: A kind of sisterhood. Don't talk to me about cliques or sororities; in this clique there are no rules, no certain way to be, and we don't leave anyone out!
encouraging one another: Telling each other it's cool to be who they are and let them express themselves!
teaching: girls, boys, men, women, old or young about grrrl issues things that effect each one of us (equality, individualization, the right to speak your mind and let your thoughts run free).
respecting each other: to realize the individuality of every girl on this planet, not to divide people into groups like race, religion, ethics, etc., to look down upon derogatory names and phrases against girls and anyone else.
respecting yourself: respect yourself for who you are. Not realizing you have flaw, but character, things that make you who you are. Realize and respect your strengths, interests, opinions, and beauty. Realize your self-empowerment.
being able to: say what you want to say and not be afraid, voice your mind and opinion, to express yourself in any shape or form, to wear what you want to wear and look the way you want to without being degraded for it. It's about not letting anyone judge you, because it's not about limitations!!!
Grrrl Power is...
feeling okay about being a girl: Be proud! We ROCK!
promoting girl love and friendship: A kind of sisterhood. Don't talk to me about cliques or sororities; in this clique there are no rules, no certain way to be, and we don't leave anyone out!
encouraging one another: Telling each other it's cool to be who they are and let them express themselves!
teaching: girls, boys, men, women, old or young about grrrl issues things that effect each one of us (equality, individualization, the right to speak your mind and let your thoughts run free).
respecting each other: to realize the individuality of every girl on this planet, not to divide people into groups like race, religion, ethics, etc., to look down upon derogatory names and phrases against girls and anyone else.
respecting yourself: respect yourself for who you are. Not realizing you have flaw, but character, things that make you who you are. Realize and respect your strengths, interests, opinions, and beauty. Realize your self-empowerment.
being able to: say what you want to say and not be afraid, voice your mind and opinion, to express yourself in any shape or form, to wear what you want to wear and look the way you want to without being degraded for it. It's about not letting anyone judge you, because it's not about limitations!!!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Jigsaw Youth
Jigsaw Youth
We live in a world that tells us we must choose an identity, a career, a relationship, and commit... to these situations... as if we don't live in a world of constant flux... which we do. Don't freak out just cuz the jigsaw is laying on the floor and it's not all the way phone and has been laying there for 4 whole hours now, resist the freak out. You will get to it... it's all part of the process.
To force some forever identity on other people is stupid. Point out inconsistincies in their behavior, explain how they are not 'truly what they say' because you saw them 'do this' one time... why? Because it is easier to deal with cardboard cut outs than real people, cuz a lot of us pretend like we're the center of the universe sometimes and everyone is just background extras in the movie we imagine we star in. WELL WHILE WE ARE ALL ARGUING ABOUT WHOSE GONNA GET TO OPEN FOR THE MELVINS, WHOSE GONNA WEAR WHAT TO THE PARTY, WHO IS LAME/TAME BECAUSE THEY PERPETUATE THIS THING WE HATE, WHO IS NOT REALLY A PUNK ROCKER CUZ "I remember when he/she used to listen to Duran Duran", THE REVOLUTION IS GOING DOWN...no it's not happening without us, it is just plain not happening at all... it is going down under the gurgling sounds of our own voices, reproducing the voices of our parents in a slightly altered way, the TV people... trying to dictate to each other what is and what isn't cool or evolutionary or true resistence, what is or isn't true in other peoples lives we sit around making all these boxes and labels, nothing to put in them, we are wasting valuable time. FUCK THAT SHIT, LET'S START TALKING FOR REAL.
To be a stripper who is also a feminist, to be an abused child holding a microphone screaming all those things that were promised, in one way or another, "I won't tell." these are contradictions I have lived. They exist, these contradictions cuz I exist. Every fucking 'feminist' is not the same, ever fucking girl is not the same, okay??? Because I live in a world that hates women and I am one... who is struggling desparately not to hate myself and my best girlfriends, my whole life is constantly felt by me as a contradiction. In order for me to exist I must belive that two contradictory things can exist in the same space. This is not a choice I make, it just is.
JIGSAW, a puzzle made up of all different weird shaped pieces. It seems like it will never come together, it makes no sense, but it can and it does and it will. Jigsaw, pieces like where you grew up and in what kind of fucked up culture and do you have a penis or not and did your parents have money and did you get teased for wearing the same coat four winters in a row and are you Thai-american or Black or Mulatto? And what do all these things mean when you are trying to resist, do something, have a good time??? I see the Jigsaw, fuzzy in my head as everything else, sometimes clear. The fact that he grew up in a working class family has everything to do with he is gonna express sexism, what kind of music he is gonna like, how I am gonna treat him. Jigsaw girl, she got fucked by her father, 8 years, people say she's flakey and inconsistent, lays in her bed eating donuts, resisting going outside where the silence will engulf her, rather sit there wating than always being eaten up... her experience has everything to do with how the pieces are fitting together (or not) for her, judge her from your place without wondering what's going on in that there Jigsaw mind of hers, and you have pushed her further away from clicking, her hand wants so bad to feel, one edge against another, together, one piece next to another, locking into place... you have to be able to see the puzzle before you start putting it together.
Resistance is everywhere, it always has been and always will be. Just because someone is not resisting in the same way you are (being a vegan, an 'out' lesbian, a political organizer) does not mean they are not resisting. Being told you are a worthless piece of shit and not believing it is a form of resistence. One girl calling another girl to warn her about a guy who date raped her is another. And while she may look like a big haired makeup girl who goes out with jocks, she is a soldier along with every other girl, and even though she may not be fighting in the same loud way that some of us can (and do) it is the fact that she is resisting that connects us, puts a piece together.
Jigsaw Youth, I don't know what this means anymore than anyone... only what it means to me. Standing proud and saying "I don't know who I am, I wanna know more, I am not afraid to say things matter to me."
Assuming that people are either "part of the problem or part of the solution" disincludes a lot of people, who, at this moment, do not feel (and therefore ARE NOT) safe enough emotionally, physically, and/or financially to resist in the same ways you might be. By judging people according to your standards of resistence or whatever... it makes it harder for people to recognize what they're doing as being important and political, etc.... it makes it harder for them to get into safe enough situations where they can reisit in more outward, community oriented ways if they want to.
Jigsaw Youth, the island of lost and broken toys, feminists who wear lipstick, people who envision 'the land of do as you please', whose lives are not simple and they are sick of trying to make themselves cohesive enough to fit into a box. Jigsaw Youth, listening, strategizing, tolerating, screaming, confronting, fearless, girl soldiers, boy lovers, boofy haired teen girls scraping out the eyes on a photo of Rick Astley, Jigsaw Youth, the misunderstood seeking to understand other people's reality. Making mistakes... making mistakes... making mistakes... making mistakes... feeling something. Knowing you will never see the puzzle put all together but trying anyways cuz each fucking piece really matters and being with friends matters. Jigsaw Youth... inventing and reinventing what these words
mean.
Written by Kathleen Hanna from Jigsaw Fanzine #4 Spring 1991 Olympia, Washington.
We live in a world that tells us we must choose an identity, a career, a relationship, and commit... to these situations... as if we don't live in a world of constant flux... which we do. Don't freak out just cuz the jigsaw is laying on the floor and it's not all the way phone and has been laying there for 4 whole hours now, resist the freak out. You will get to it... it's all part of the process.
To force some forever identity on other people is stupid. Point out inconsistincies in their behavior, explain how they are not 'truly what they say' because you saw them 'do this' one time... why? Because it is easier to deal with cardboard cut outs than real people, cuz a lot of us pretend like we're the center of the universe sometimes and everyone is just background extras in the movie we imagine we star in. WELL WHILE WE ARE ALL ARGUING ABOUT WHOSE GONNA GET TO OPEN FOR THE MELVINS, WHOSE GONNA WEAR WHAT TO THE PARTY, WHO IS LAME/TAME BECAUSE THEY PERPETUATE THIS THING WE HATE, WHO IS NOT REALLY A PUNK ROCKER CUZ "I remember when he/she used to listen to Duran Duran", THE REVOLUTION IS GOING DOWN...no it's not happening without us, it is just plain not happening at all... it is going down under the gurgling sounds of our own voices, reproducing the voices of our parents in a slightly altered way, the TV people... trying to dictate to each other what is and what isn't cool or evolutionary or true resistence, what is or isn't true in other peoples lives we sit around making all these boxes and labels, nothing to put in them, we are wasting valuable time. FUCK THAT SHIT, LET'S START TALKING FOR REAL.
To be a stripper who is also a feminist, to be an abused child holding a microphone screaming all those things that were promised, in one way or another, "I won't tell." these are contradictions I have lived. They exist, these contradictions cuz I exist. Every fucking 'feminist' is not the same, ever fucking girl is not the same, okay??? Because I live in a world that hates women and I am one... who is struggling desparately not to hate myself and my best girlfriends, my whole life is constantly felt by me as a contradiction. In order for me to exist I must belive that two contradictory things can exist in the same space. This is not a choice I make, it just is.
JIGSAW, a puzzle made up of all different weird shaped pieces. It seems like it will never come together, it makes no sense, but it can and it does and it will. Jigsaw, pieces like where you grew up and in what kind of fucked up culture and do you have a penis or not and did your parents have money and did you get teased for wearing the same coat four winters in a row and are you Thai-american or Black or Mulatto? And what do all these things mean when you are trying to resist, do something, have a good time??? I see the Jigsaw, fuzzy in my head as everything else, sometimes clear. The fact that he grew up in a working class family has everything to do with he is gonna express sexism, what kind of music he is gonna like, how I am gonna treat him. Jigsaw girl, she got fucked by her father, 8 years, people say she's flakey and inconsistent, lays in her bed eating donuts, resisting going outside where the silence will engulf her, rather sit there wating than always being eaten up... her experience has everything to do with how the pieces are fitting together (or not) for her, judge her from your place without wondering what's going on in that there Jigsaw mind of hers, and you have pushed her further away from clicking, her hand wants so bad to feel, one edge against another, together, one piece next to another, locking into place... you have to be able to see the puzzle before you start putting it together.
Resistance is everywhere, it always has been and always will be. Just because someone is not resisting in the same way you are (being a vegan, an 'out' lesbian, a political organizer) does not mean they are not resisting. Being told you are a worthless piece of shit and not believing it is a form of resistence. One girl calling another girl to warn her about a guy who date raped her is another. And while she may look like a big haired makeup girl who goes out with jocks, she is a soldier along with every other girl, and even though she may not be fighting in the same loud way that some of us can (and do) it is the fact that she is resisting that connects us, puts a piece together.
Jigsaw Youth, I don't know what this means anymore than anyone... only what it means to me. Standing proud and saying "I don't know who I am, I wanna know more, I am not afraid to say things matter to me."
Assuming that people are either "part of the problem or part of the solution" disincludes a lot of people, who, at this moment, do not feel (and therefore ARE NOT) safe enough emotionally, physically, and/or financially to resist in the same ways you might be. By judging people according to your standards of resistence or whatever... it makes it harder for people to recognize what they're doing as being important and political, etc.... it makes it harder for them to get into safe enough situations where they can reisit in more outward, community oriented ways if they want to.
Jigsaw Youth, the island of lost and broken toys, feminists who wear lipstick, people who envision 'the land of do as you please', whose lives are not simple and they are sick of trying to make themselves cohesive enough to fit into a box. Jigsaw Youth, listening, strategizing, tolerating, screaming, confronting, fearless, girl soldiers, boy lovers, boofy haired teen girls scraping out the eyes on a photo of Rick Astley, Jigsaw Youth, the misunderstood seeking to understand other people's reality. Making mistakes... making mistakes... making mistakes... making mistakes... feeling something. Knowing you will never see the puzzle put all together but trying anyways cuz each fucking piece really matters and being with friends matters. Jigsaw Youth... inventing and reinventing what these words
mean.
Written by Kathleen Hanna from Jigsaw Fanzine #4 Spring 1991 Olympia, Washington.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Burn Down The Walls That Say You Can't
The article below was written by Kathleen Hanna for one of her riot grrrl zines in the early 1990’s.
Burn Down The Walls That Say You Can't
Be a dork, tell your friends you love them
Resist the temptation to view those around you as objects & use them.
Recognize empathy and vulnerability as positive forms of strength.
Resist the internalization of capitalism, the reducing of people & oneself to commodities, meant to be consumed.
Resist psychic death.
Don't allow the world to make you into a bitter abusive asshole
Cry in public.
Don't judge other people. Learn to be yourself
Acknowledge emotional violence as real.
Figure out how the idea of competition fits into your intimate relationships
Decide that you'd rather learn stuff than prove you're right all the time.
Believe people when they tell you they are hurting or are in pain.
Recognize you are not the center of the universe.
Recognize your connection to other people and species.
Make additions to this list and/or think about why you don't agree w/some of what i've written.
Don't assume people invent pain in order to mainpulate you or make you feel bad.
Close your mind to the propaganda of the status quo by examining its effects on you, cell by artificial cell.
Trust
Burn Down The Walls That Say You Can't
Be a dork, tell your friends you love them
Resist the temptation to view those around you as objects & use them.
Recognize empathy and vulnerability as positive forms of strength.
Resist the internalization of capitalism, the reducing of people & oneself to commodities, meant to be consumed.
Resist psychic death.
Don't allow the world to make you into a bitter abusive asshole
Cry in public.
Don't judge other people. Learn to be yourself
Acknowledge emotional violence as real.
Figure out how the idea of competition fits into your intimate relationships
Decide that you'd rather learn stuff than prove you're right all the time.
Believe people when they tell you they are hurting or are in pain.
Recognize you are not the center of the universe.
Recognize your connection to other people and species.
Make additions to this list and/or think about why you don't agree w/some of what i've written.
Don't assume people invent pain in order to mainpulate you or make you feel bad.
Close your mind to the propaganda of the status quo by examining its effects on you, cell by artificial cell.
Trust
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Riot Grrrl Manifesto
Riot Grrrl Manifesto Written By: Kathleen Hanna
BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.
BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other's work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each other.
BECAUSE we must take over the means of production in order to create our own moanings.
BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to our girlfriends-politics-real lives is essential if we are gonna figure out how we are doing impacts,
reflects, perpetuates, or DISRUPTS the status quo.
BECAUSE we recognize fantasies of Instant Macho Gun Revolution as impractical lies meant to keep us simply dreaming instead of becoming our dreams AND THUS seek to create revolution in our own lives every single day by envisioning and creating alternatives to the bullshit christian capitalist way of doing things.
BECAUSE we want and need to encourage and be encouraged in the face of all our own insecurities, in the face of beergutboyrock that tells us we can't play our instruments, in the face of "authorities" who say our bands/zines/etc are the worst in the US and....
BECAUSE we don't wanna assimilate to someone else's (boy) standards of what is or isn't
BECAUSE we are unwilling to falter under claims that we are reactionary "reverse sexists" AND NOT THE TRUEPUNKROCKSOULCRUSADERS THAT WE KNOW we really are
BECAUSE we know that life is much more than physical survival and are patently aware that the punk rock "you can do anything" idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which seeks to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours.
BECAUSE we are interested in creating non-heirarchical ways of being AND making music, friends, and scenes based on communication + understanding, instead of competition + good/bad categorizations
BECAUSE doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community that we need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism, able-bodieism, ageism, speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-semitism and heterosexism figures in our own lives.
BECAUSE we see fostering and supporting girl scenes and girl artists of all kinds as integral to this process.
BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal as sharing
information and staying alive, instead of making profits of being cool according to traditional standards.
BECAUSE we are angry at a society that tells us Girl=Dumb, Girl=Bad, Girl=Weak
BECAUSE we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or
turned against us via the internalization of sexism as witnessed in girl/girl jealousism and self defeating girltype behaviors
BECAUSE I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real.
BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.
BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other's work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each other.
BECAUSE we must take over the means of production in order to create our own moanings.
BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to our girlfriends-politics-real lives is essential if we are gonna figure out how we are doing impacts,
reflects, perpetuates, or DISRUPTS the status quo.
BECAUSE we recognize fantasies of Instant Macho Gun Revolution as impractical lies meant to keep us simply dreaming instead of becoming our dreams AND THUS seek to create revolution in our own lives every single day by envisioning and creating alternatives to the bullshit christian capitalist way of doing things.
BECAUSE we want and need to encourage and be encouraged in the face of all our own insecurities, in the face of beergutboyrock that tells us we can't play our instruments, in the face of "authorities" who say our bands/zines/etc are the worst in the US and....
BECAUSE we don't wanna assimilate to someone else's (boy) standards of what is or isn't
BECAUSE we are unwilling to falter under claims that we are reactionary "reverse sexists" AND NOT THE TRUEPUNKROCKSOULCRUSADERS THAT WE KNOW we really are
BECAUSE we know that life is much more than physical survival and are patently aware that the punk rock "you can do anything" idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which seeks to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours.
BECAUSE we are interested in creating non-heirarchical ways of being AND making music, friends, and scenes based on communication + understanding, instead of competition + good/bad categorizations
BECAUSE doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community that we need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism, able-bodieism, ageism, speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-semitism and heterosexism figures in our own lives.
BECAUSE we see fostering and supporting girl scenes and girl artists of all kinds as integral to this process.
BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal as sharing
information and staying alive, instead of making profits of being cool according to traditional standards.
BECAUSE we are angry at a society that tells us Girl=Dumb, Girl=Bad, Girl=Weak
BECAUSE we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or
turned against us via the internalization of sexism as witnessed in girl/girl jealousism and self defeating girltype behaviors
BECAUSE I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real.
Friday, April 17, 2009
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:
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:
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