What was the Riot Grrrl Movement?
Riot Grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington.
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In reaction to the sexism in the punk rock scene, feminists in Olympia Washington formed their own punk bands and started to create their own zines. They addressed issues like racism, sexism, rape, abuse, homophobia, eating disorders, and more in their music and zines. Riot Grrrls encouraged all women to express themselves however they want and to accept themselves and others regardless of differences. They wanted to form their own bands, publish their own stories, artwork, and zines, and create a safe space for expression in the face of misogyny.
WHY GRRRL AND NOT GIRL?
The term "grrrl" originated in the early 1990s during the riot grrrl movement. Riot grrrls chose to use this variation of girl because they wanted to destroy the expectations and limitations associated with being a "girl".
The definition of grrrl is a young woman perceived as independent and strong or aggressive, especially in her attitude to men or in her sexuality.
The grrr represents the sound of an animal growling. The term "grrrl" allowed Riot Grrrls to determine what she wanted it to mean in her life. All those definitions end up being about empowered living.
"It was about breaking free from the bondage of the material world. I come from a religious background and in the scriptures the whole idea of being liberated is to break free from bondage. I had an idea of the bondage of slavery and all those images in history like the suffragettes or slaves being chained up." -Poly Styrene (lead singer of X-Ray Spex) on Oh Bondage Up Yours
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Riot Grrrl Zines
A zine is a self-published, DIY magazine that is typically produced in small and limited batches. The Riot Grrrl movement believed in women actively engaging in cultural production rather than following existing materials.
Zines became an important part of the punk scene in the early 1970s because it was a way to produce a publication without being bothered by the corporate structure.
Zines served as a place to discuss issues that were considered taboo in society such as rape, misogyny, sexuality, and eating disorders. Zines allowed women to have connections with other women that shared similar ideas and experiences.
THE RIOT GRRRL MANIFESTO
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 meanings.
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.
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BECAUSE we want and need to encourage and be encouraged in the face of all our own insecurities, in the face of beer gut boy rock 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 TRUE PUNK ROCK SOUL CRUSADERS 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-hierarchical 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, antisemitism 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 girl-type behaviors.
BECAUSE I believe with my whole heart mind-body that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real.