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An Examination of the Riot Grrrl Subculture Lindsay Wright James Madison University

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An Examination of the Riot Grrrl Subculture Lindsay Wright James Madison University James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal Volume 3 | Issue 1 Article 6 2015-2016 Do-It-Yourself Girl Power: An Examination of the Riot Grrrl Subculture Lindsay Wright James Madison University Follow this and other works at: http://commons.lib.jmu.edu/jmurj Recommended APA Citation Wright, L. (2016). Do-it-yourself girl power: An examination of the Riot Grrrl subculture. James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal, 3(1), 52-56. Retrieved from www.jmurj.edu/vol3/iss1/6/ This full issue is brought to you for free and open access by JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Do-It-Yourself Girl Power: An Examination of the Riot Grrrl Subculture Lindsay Wright The Riot Grrrl subculture emerged from the punk rock scene during the third-wave feminist movement in the early 1990s, uniting women and girls against capitalist and patriarchal cultural ideologies. Creative forms of protest including music, fanzines, and other do-it-yourself expressions have allowed Riot Grrrls to counter the dominant ideological narrative in the United States. Despite the Riot Grrrl movement’s commodification by mainstream culture, it has evolved and expanded to continue to influence the world today. 52 JAMES MADISON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL Introduction culture is overwhelmingly rooted in consumer capitalism In the early 1990s, the initial Riot Grrrl movement formed meaning that not only are resources privatized, but out of the collaboration of women from Washington D.C. concepts, ideals, and bodies also gain exchange value and Olympia, Washington, who were tired of having within a cultural context (Riordan, 2001). More specifically, their female perspectives stifled by the punk rock scene. Girls’ Studies researcher Sharon Mazzarella (2015) noted Not content with being silenced by the men in the punk that Riot Grrrls opposed consumer capitalism because of subculture, Riot Grrrls emerged in the context of third- how it can commodify women (personal communication). wave feminism, which united women and girls around Commodification is the conversion of specific markers the country. Separate from the male punk subculture, Riot such as dress and music into mass-produced products Grrrls rebeled not only against the dominant ideological (Riordan, 2011), and within the capitalistic system, frameworks of capitalism and consumer culture, but also women are repeatedly sexualized, objectified, and held against the patriarchy that dominated American society to unrealistic, unattainable standards that commodify (Huber, 2010). Rather than follow the “trend within their existence. Furthermore, capitalism threatens to rob contemporary society for women to become invisible and women of their individual authentic experiences by forcing become forgotten when the past becomes ‘history’” (Strong, them to operate in accordance with a culture driven by 2011, p. 400), these women began a new punk movement consumerism (Huber, 2010). Angered by this oppression, fueled by the power of like-minded girls and their collective the Riot Grrrl narrative served to deconstruct consumer creativity. These key creative subcultural elements of music capitalism and its detrimental effects on women. and do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic were instrumental in the formation and proliferation of Riot As a subset of the third-wave of Grrrl identity in the 1990s. Despite Within the capitalistic system, feminism, Riot Grrrls sought its subsequent commodification by to create solidarity and raise a mainstream consumer culture, the women are repeatedly voice against oppressive societal Riot Grrrl movement has evolved and sexualized, objectified, and institutions. Out of opposition maintains a global influence today. to the traditional connotations held to unrealistic standards associated with the word “girl,” Riot Grrrl Identity that commodify their Riot Grrrls reclaimed “girl” to As a subculture, the Riot Grrrl existence. give their subculture a unique movement was blatantly political identity (Dunn, 2014). Hanna in its message and resistant to the heteronormative and justified this choice in her manifesto: “BECAUSE we are patriarchal standards maintained by the dominant culture angry at a society that tells us Girl = Dumb, Girl = Bad, (Huber, 2010). In an effort to give nonconforming women Girl = Weak.” Adding a growl-like spin to the spelling, a voice in society, Riot Grrrls vocally opposed power the Riot Grrrl subculture of the 90s contrasted standards structures that perpetuated limiting ideals of heterosexuality of femininity and social cooperation and redefined the and traditional gender roles. Kathleen Hanna, the front traditional idea of what it means to be a girl. As Schilt (2003) woman of the Riot Grrrl band Bikini Kill, explicitly defined explains, “The use of the word ‘girl’ came from a desire to the mindsets and characteristics of a Riot Grrrl in her “Riot focus on childhood, a time when girls have the strongest Grrrl Manifesto,” published in 1991 in Bikini Kill Zine 2, one self-esteem and belief in themselves. The rewriting of the of the short, homemade publications used to promote Riot word as ‘grrrl’ represented the anger behind the movement; Grrrl ideology. Hanna pitted Riot Grrrls against dominant it sounded like a growl” (p. 6). Throughout the movement, American culture: “BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all Riot Grrrls have been intentional in their identification and its forms and see our main goal as sharing information representation of members as fiercely empowered women and staying alive, instead of making profits of being prepared to riot against injustices in society. cool according to traditional standards.” Hanna further described Riot Grrrls as “seek[ing] to create revolution Riot Grrrls’ Protest in [their] own lives every single day by envisioning and One of the major ways in which Riot Grrrls expressed creating alternatives to the bullshit christian capitalist way their ideas during their peak was through music. Music of doing things.” Through their actions and group identity, frequently has the power to unite subculturists, although Riot Grrrls worked against “racism, able-bodieism, ageism, subcultures consist of much more than a group of people speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-semitism and with a shared taste in music (S. Mazzarella, personal heterosexism” (Hanna, 1991). communication, 2015). Subculturists, like Riot Grrrls, are members of subcultures who are united by their As Hanna (1991) explained in her manifesto, Riot Grrrls shared opinions and actions to oppose dominant cultural formed in opposition to the pervasive consumer capitalist ideologies and discourses (S. Mazzarella, personal culture in the United States. Whereas capitalism is the communication, 2015). For Riot Grrrl musicians, song economic system under which the U.S. operates, Western lyrics were an extremely powerful tool to express their JAMES MADISON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL JAMES MADISON UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL 53 standpoints on important issues. Songs by Riot Grrrl- their experiences in a safe setting (Huber, 2010). Not only affiliated bands such as Bikini Kill often included topics of have these festivals incorporated music, but they have also “rape, domestic violence, incest, abortion, eating disorders, emphasized the DIY ethic that was integral to the Riot body image, and sexuality” (Riordan, 2001, p. 287), which Grrrl movement at its peak. have been construed differently by the mainstream media. Listening to Riot Grrrl music allowed women and girls to The Riot Grrrl DIY expression facilitated the exploration identify their experiences and struggles within the confines of broaching taboo topics and the vulnerability of sharing of society and politics (Schilt, 2003). Furthermore, the common experiences among girls. According to a self- blunt, relevant lyrics presented in their music invited girls professed Riot Grrrl in an interview with Rosenberg to engage their feminist agency (Riordan, 2001). Riot Grrrl- and Garofalo (1998), the movement was about “Riot [G] affiliated music has continually held the power to advance rrrls getting girls to do it for ourselves” (p. 818). Hanna’s the movement by encouraging listeners to take an active “Riot Grrrl Manifesto” also placed clear value on female- role in their mission, perhaps by expressing themselves empowered content creation: creatively. BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in To illustrate the music’s influence, Huber (2010) identified and can understand in our own ways. evident countercultural themes in his analysis of lyrics BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/ from Bikini Kill’s song “Rebel Girl” and Sleater-Kinney’s hear each other’s work so that we can share strategies song “Modern Girl.” In “Rebel Girl,” Bikini Kill encourages and criticize-applaud each other. listeners to catalyze a gender revolution. While performing BECAUSE we must take over the means of production the song, they incorporated high energy “vocal styling and in order to create our own meanings. [a] militant drumbeat” (p. 74), which supplemented their BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to message. The performance created an image of a “strong our girlfriends-politics-real lives is essential if we are and powerful” woman, reflecting the idea of the Riot gonna figure out how we are doing impacts,
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