“Wait a Minute, There’s a Sister in There?” The Untold Stories of Riot Grrrl Critics and Revolutionists by Katherine Ross Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Sociology) Acadia University Spring Convocation 2018 © by Katherine Ross, 2017 This thesis by Katherine Ross was defended successfully in an oral examination on 17th November 2017. The examining committee for the thesis was: ________________________ Dr. Anna Redden, Chair ________________________ Dr. Riley Chisholm, External Examiner ________________________ Dr. Sarah Rudrum, Internal Reader ________________________ Dr. Saara Liinamaa, Supervisor _________________________ Dr. Jesse Carlson, Acting Head This thesis is accepted in its present form by the Division of Research and Graduate Studies as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree Master of Arts (Sociology). …………………………………………. ii I, Katherine Ross, grant permission to the University Librarian at Acadia University to reproduce, loan or distribute copies of my thesis in microform, paper or electronic formats on a non-profit basis. I, however, retain the copyright in my thesis. _________________________________ Author _________________________________ Supervisor _________________________________ Date iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE: THE HISTORY AND RECEPTION OF RIOT GRRRL .............. 1 CHAPTER TWO: CONCEPTUALIZATION OF RIOT GRRRL ............................ 10 PERSPECTIVES OF RIOT GRRRL ................................................................................ 10 ZINES AS CULTURAL PRODUCTION ......................................................................... 15 YOUNG FEMINIST SUBCULTURAL STUDIES/ GIRL STUDIES ............................. 17 THE ROOTS OF PUNK ................................................................................................... 21 THE JOURNEY THROUGH FEMINISM ....................................................................... 23 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL IMPRESSIONS OF FEMINISM AND CULTURE ........................................................................................................................ 28 FEMINIST THEORY ....................................................................................................... 28 Standpoint Theory ...................................................................................................... 30 CRITICAL RACE THEORY ............................................................................................ 34 Intersectional Theory ................................................................................................. 35 SUBCULTURAL THEORY ............................................................................................. 38 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ......................................... 47 NARRARTIVE ANALYSIS............................................................................................. 47 STANDPOINT METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 50 METHODS ........................................................................................................................ 54 PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS ................................................................................. 55 RECRUITMENT ............................................................................................................... 57 ETHICS ............................................................................................................................. 58 INTERPRETATION ......................................................................................................... 58 DATA LIMITATIONS ..................................................................................................... 59 CHAPTER FIVE: INTERVIEW PARTICIPANT SYNOPSIS .................................. 64 TANYA PALIT ................................................................................................................. 64 FANNY VON BEAVERHAUSEN .................................................................................. 65 HONEYCHILD COLEMAN ............................................................................................ 67 MICHELLE CRUZ GONZALES ..................................................................................... 68 iv HOLLY SEARLE ............................................................................................................. 69 SARI .................................................................................................................................. 71 VHC .................................................................................................................................. 72 KAMALA PARKS ............................................................................................................ 74 CHAPTER SIX: SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERIES AND INTERPRETATIONS .... 76 EXPERIENCES OF MISOGYNY IN PUNK ................................................................... 76 AMERICAN INFLUENCE OF RIOT GRRRL ................................................................ 81 MISUSE OF THE RIOT GRRRL LABEL ....................................................................... 85 DISTRUST OF RIOT GRRRL ........................................................................................ 88 PUNK POINTS AND POLICING ............................................................................ ……91 SHARED PRINCIPLES .................................................................................................... 96 RACIAL POLITICS IN RIOT GRRRL .......................................................................... 100 INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM ................................................................................... 104 CHAPTER SEVEN: FINAL DELIBERATIONS....................................................... 109 IMAGE REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 113 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 114 v ABSTRACT Feminist academia understands Riot Grrrl as a vital outlet for community support, sisterhood and activism; nonetheless, accounts of racial, class and sexual discrimination by the white, middle class front-runners of the movement have surfaced in the last decade. The hyper-masculine, mainstream US punk subculture struggled with racial and gender diversity, which was the key factor for the creation of Riot Grrrl feminism. In this thesis, I argue that, like its parent culture, Riot Grrrl follows similar hierarchical power structures. I use narrative analysis and standpoint theory to organize the stories of activists through eight semi-structured interviews. Each participant’s relationship to the Riot Grrrl movement is unique and the interviews articulate how they have tailored and rejected dominant ideas and philosophies of Riot Grrrl, and how they highlight concerns relative to them. The study concludes that poor executions of well-intended philosophies can hinder its original purpose. Diversity and inclusion should be vital parts of feminist ideology. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to the wonderful women in my life. Thank you for giving me the courage to keep writing, to ‘stay woke’, and to dismantle the patriarchy. From my roller derby league, to my beautiful wife, to my patient supervisor, to my academic crew: you inspire me. Thank you. I cannot take full credit for this thesis, as I only cultivated some ideas and wrote them down. I must give credit to the feminist scholars that have worked hard to ensure my academic freedom. I must give credit to those activists on the frontline of the rally who scream in the face of authority. And I must give credit to the women in punk who allowed me to share their stories in the hope that future feminisms will not make the same mistakes. vii CHAPTER ONE: THE HISTORY AND RECEPTION OF RIOT GRRRL Women and women-identified individuals have always been in punk, yet the male- dominated space restricted their participation and cultural production. Resistance to the misogyny and sexual exploitation of women in punk spawned Riot Grrrl that highlighted women’s interests and provided a space for the circulation and community of feminist activism. Nevertheless, the token Riot Grrrl musicians and activists limited the representation of women of color, transgender women, and working class women within the original 1990s Riot Grrrl movement. The dominant group consisted of white cis-gender, middle class, educated women who set the hegemonic ideology and ‘Punk Point’ system that maintained the social order. For women of color and LGBTQ individuals, the front- runners countermanded their voices, which contributed to unrepresented individuals’ detachment from the movement. This detachment, however, sparked the conception of another feminist punk subculture, one that highlighted struggles of minority groups. In contemporary times, there are bands and cultural producers who use the Riot Grrrl label to construct community and practice, drawing on components of the feminist ideology used in the original movement such as zines, punk music, and activism. However, innovative Riot Grrrl