Written by Amal Murni
Edited by Zati Rahman
Punk Rock + Riot Grrrl
To discuss the Riot Grrrl movement, we have to look at the most important social movements in this century: Punk Rock. The Punk artists pushed extreme social agendas and made a huge impact in fashion, music, film, and generally created their own culture. However, good things do come with the bad because as it grew, Punk Rock became toxic and tattered in various ways, especially towards women. As stated in Polyphonic’s ‘Riot Grrrl’ video research (2018), women were assaulted at shows and were not taken seriously as artists/individuals. While male Punks became household names, the females were sent into the underground. Thus, in the early 90s, a group of women created a vision and movement that changed punk and music history: ‘Riot Grrrl’.
Riot Grrrl
Riot Grrrl is a movement that emerged in the early 1990s in Olympia, Washington and Washington, DC. The term simply means “rioting girls”, which was to actively challenge and stand up against the misogyny and sexism within the music scene, specifically Punk Rock. The idea behind the movement sparked from the female frustration of constantly being kicked around, objectified, patronised, trivialised, oppressed and divided in a world that was and still is oozing with toxic masculinity and societal norms that puts men on a pedestal and gave them the upperhand to decide what it means to be a woman.
In the 1990s, women’s voices were drowned out by the male Punks in which gave women enough motivation to create a platform where they could speak freely through ‘fanzines’. The British punk scene created DIY zines as their own way of “sticking it to the establishment” and creating a culture. However, some set the stage for sexism that dominated Punk Rock over the next two decades. In 1976, the Snifflin’ Glue zine stated: “Punks are not girls” that motivated Tobi Vail to print her self-published zine, ‘Jigsaw’ (Polyphonic, 2018).
In response to the Snifflin’ Glue zine’s statement, Tobi Vail said, “I feel completely left out of the realm of everything that is so important to me. And I know this is partly because punk rock is for and by boys” (The Guardian, 2009). Fortunately, Vail wasn’t the only woman who felt out of place in the scene, Kathleen Hanna shared the same frustration and dissension that both made a collaborative effort to create ‘Bikini Kill’ zine. Around the same time, Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman were working on Girl Germs, which was a seminal feminist zine. With the huge impact through the women-made DIY zines, they decided to send a message to the Punk community and the best way to do it was through the scene’s main thing: music.
In October 1990, Vail and Hanna created a band called ‘Bikini Kill’ and in February 1991, Aaron Smith joined Wolfe and Neuman to form ‘Bratmobile’ which made these two bands the true driving force of Riot Grrrl.
In the early days, Bikini Kill would encourage women at their shows, which in turn, put off the men in the Punk scene. Bikini Kill would often get heckled on stage and sometimes men would try to verbally or physically assault Hanna, who would go into the crowd to personally see hecklers out of their shows (Polyphonic, 2018). In the second issue of the Bikini Kill's zine, they printed out a manifesto for the movement and ‘Riot Grrrl’ was born.
Original Riot Grrrl Manifesto (1991) by Kathleen Hanna
‘The Riot Grrrl Collection’, pg. 174
The ‘Riot Grrrl’ name is derived from various sources -- one of the movement’s pioneers, Jen Smith used “girl riot” in a letter to Wolfe in reference to the Mount Pleasant race riot in Washington D.C and said “women needed to have a similar riot” (New University, 2015). Moreover, the ‘girl’ part came from these women’s memories of feeling empowered as children -- as girls, prior to being forced into the demands of society and the male gaze.
Apart from Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, Huggy Bear formed to send a similar message to the scene as well as L7, a political punk band that existed before Riot Grrrl and became associated with the scene for a period of time. Furthermore, bands like Babes in Toyland, 7 Year Bitch, Calamity Jane, Excuse 17 and Heavens to Betsy followed suit in the early 90s to normalise women’s anger, rights and celebrate their sexuality through political, feminist and satire Punk-Rock music. During the shows, these bands would call out “girls to the front!” for a sense of togetherness, belonging and mostly, safety. The politics of Riot Grrrl also touched upon a range of social issues like fat oppression, queer youth, sexuality, mental health, racism, women who were physically, sexually, or emotionally abused. It also created a space or forum to share feminist thought or ideas and worked towards creating an environment that is safe for girls. Additionally, the legacy of Riot Grrrl also led to active protests such as “slut walks” -- which was aimed to redefine words or labels such as “slut” and fought back against the idea that women have to be or dress a certain way (The Guardian, 2011)
Pre-Riot Grrrl Manifesto (1989) by Kathleen Hanna
The Key Aspects of Riot Grrrl
To make it easier for girls to see/ hear each other’s work
To not assimilate to someone else’s standards of what is or isn’t
To revive and rejuvenate Punk-rock’s DIY culture (which have grown stale in the face of commercialism)
The same commercialist world misconstrued Riot Grrrl -- creating unnecessary controversies around their performance rather than focusing the context/ substance.
The movement wasn’t for fame or success but for a real impact on a ground level
The thriving DIY zine community provided resources for queer youth and women who have been sexually abused or struggling with mental illness, thus, creating the normalcy of women handing out pamphlets at shows as well as loving and respecting women
Provided a new space for feminist thoughts
From academia to the stage of Punk Rock
Don't Let Them Ever Silence You | Photo: riot grrrl I.E Facebook page.
The Demise of Riot Grrrl
In spite of the empowering factors of the movement, Riot Grrrl was not as inclusive as it appeared to be. It was mostly represented by white CIS women and held a narrow point of view on feminism that did not include all types of females, e.g. women of ethnic diversity and of different gender identities, sexualities, class and age.
Based on an article by Laina Dawes of Bitch Media, she was never interested in being part of Riot Grrrl because whenever she was in the mosh pit, she would get bruises and punches because she was an individual and not due to her gender. In addition, back then she was more fearful of being assaulted “because I was black than because I was a young woman, thus, my ethnicity trumped my gender.”
An essay of Women & Performance by Nguyen described certain bits of rebellion performed by white women that were translated differently when filtered through a racial lens (Bitchmedia, 2013). “For instance, women of colour wondered out loud for whom writing ‘SLUT’ across their stomachs operated as reclamations of sexual agency against feminine passivity, where racisms had already inscribed such terms onto some bodies, and poor or criminal-class women argued that feminists’ ‘slumming’ in the sex industry as a confrontational act implied that other women in this or other tiers of the industry were otherwise conceding to patriarchy” (Women & Performance, n.d).
In addition, the lack of women of colour in the Punk-Rock scene during the movement made them an afterthought and based on ‘Women & Performance’, the issue was nothing new and the movement further demonstrated how tone deaf and privileged the white CIS women were in a sub-culture in that, in spite of the political views that they instilled/preached, they would still exit into a comfortable life in which for women of colour who would strip for survival, cannot (Bitch Media, 2013).
Post-Riot Grrrl
The movement was a precursor to what we see now and has a lasting impact on music such as Sleater-Kinney, a band from Washington that was formed towards the end of the Riot Grrrl movement and became huge in the American Indie-Rock scene. Additionally, after Riot Grrrl, women discussing female empowerment was more accepted in the mainstream with the likes of Alanis Morisette and Fiona Apple having huge success throughout the rest of the 90s (Polyphonic, 2018).
Riot Grrrl faded in the mid 90s, however, many of its tenets live on. Hanna created Le Tigre, a feminist band that achieved success throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. Moreover, today, bands like White Lung and Pussy Riot were inspired by the movement and some do identify as Riot Grrrls themselves.
Do WE want Riot Grrrl? What can WE do better?
For the most part, yes, we want Riot Grrrl but a better one -- one that is inclusive and diverse and does not perpetuate the tone-deaf privileged ideologies. Based on recent events with controversial advertisements to song lyrics to daily interactions, our society has a lot to learn and there is no excuse for ignorance and arrogance BECAUSE we have the privilege to find and share and access information. Given the technological luxury that we have now, it is definitely unlike how it was back then in the 90s where women had to painstakingly write down, compile everything through Xerox printers and hand the information at shows, gatherings and streets to speak up, educate and create change -- we can simply type our thoughts and/or research and share them worldwide in an instant.
Furthermore, considering that the music scene is still predominantly male, whether it’s in Punk-Rock, Metal, Electronic, Alternative, Indie, R&B or HipHop, it shows that there is still a need to call more “grrrls to the front!” and we are getting there. With the rise of women musicians in Brunei with the likes of Nqbh, Zaiana, Adillah, Nadiatul, Aisyah, Santan, Ary, Bluemoongirl and many more, we can hope to collectively create a safe space for the current and future generations to feel comfortable enough to exist and express without being tied down by “what is and isn’t”.
By growing our network of “rioting girls, boys AND non-binary”, we can start conversations against the apparent misogyny and sexism ingrained in our society, culture and education system, in order to instil bravery to and for the people who are affected by these issues -- to give them a voice in this silenced community, loud enough for the people at the back.
Sources:
YouTube - Riot Grrrl:
NME - Brief History of Riot Grrrl:
Grinnell College - Subculture: Riot Grrrl:
NPR - Revolution Girl Style:
Brit Library - Riot Grrrl: https://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/counterculture/doityourself/riotgrrrl/riotgrrrl.html
Red Bull - Riot Grrrl Movement:
NYTimes - Riot Grrrl United Feminism and Punk: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/03/arts/music/riot-grrrl-playlist.html
Bitch Media - Why I Was Never a Riot Grrrl:
The Guardian - Slut Walking:
New University - Jen Smith’s Quiet Riot at OCMA:
The Guardian - Grrrl Power:
Timeout - From Riot Grrrl to The Streets of Chicago:
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