Rebel Girls

Have no fear, the perfect stocking stuffer for that little riot grrrl is here. New York University's Bobst Library is the home of the Riot Grrrl Collection, an archive of zines, journals, artwork and other documents from the movement spanning from 1989-1996.

The collection is housed by the Fales Library and has been edited by Fales' senior archivist Lisa Darms into a handy book that will be published by the Feminist Press, also located at NYU.

Material primarily found in the Riot Grrrl Collection are the personal papers of those who were involved in the development of the zines, music and activism of the movement.

The collection also features contributions from the riot grrrl movement's biggets influcences, like Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, Molly Neuman of Bratmobile and an original feaure essay by Le Tigre's Johanna Fateman.

The original collection was created by Darms after her experience of living in Olympia from 1989 to 2001. She spend several years contacting musicians, activists and anyone who would be willing to contribute to her growing collection.

Darms said, "I think the unique way this collection will function is — obviously there are a lot of zine collections around the country — but this collection is archives and manuscripts. It's the creative process that goes into zines; all of the other context surrounding the zine creation, and what informed it."
The book can be purchased from Amazon.com or the Feminist Press' website.

Suggestion

Can men be feminists?

It is a question that comes up often because the definition of feminism has been played with for so long, but it is real and yes, of course, men can be feminists. Women's issues need all the support they can get and why should that be limited to just women when there are indeed men out there who make an effort to educate themselves on the issues.

Though the final decision should come down to women, male feminists should be welcomed. Recently, there have been groups popping up that include men who identify themselves as feminists and, in some cases, are often forced to defend themselves and their intentions.

John Brougher, founder of malefeminists.com and the vice president of marketing and nonprofit communities at NGP VAN, a technology company, said in an article for CNN.com that, "My feminism is a simple belief in equality. I'm a feminist because I believe that men and women are and should be equal, but we're not treated equally right now...sexism doesn't just hurt women, it breaks our very humanity."

Another form of support from male feminists comes from a group called MA'AM (which stands for  'Men Against Assholes and Misogyny' and 'Men Aligned Against Misogyny') created by Jen Kirkmen.On this site, Kirkman publishes submissions from men who identify themselves as male feminists. The letters are often of men who have had an incident change their perspective or enhanced and open their minds to the idea.

Lastly, the soundtrack to the feminist movement has always had an important role and that has been dominated by the women who write the songs that talk about the experience first hand, but there have been male musicians and bands like Atmosphere, Lucero and Fugazi who have managed to write songs and have been able to pull off similar sentiments.

In Fugazi's tune "Suggestion," they call out misogynistic actions by singing, "You spent yourself watching me suffer. Suffer your eyes, suffer your words, suffer your hands. Suffer your interpretation of what it is to be a man."

Halloween

Halloween is just four days away and this weekend was just the beginning of the festivities. Long Beach was, and still is, in full swing with different places to celebrate Halloween. It is where full grown adults get a chance at being a little more creative though the store-bought costume is always available for any last minute choices.
Around this time, though, it seems like shopping for a costume just keeps getting tougher and tougher for women. Though it is a day that women take advantage of to wear something more revealing than usual, when clicking through the different choices offered online for costumes, one cannot help but notice that every other costume is labeled as "sexy" or "slutty" this and that.

There was also a reappearance of a controversial costume that was being sold in 2011 by Ricky's Halloween online store, based in New York.

What was the offensive costume in question? The "Anna Rexia"costume.

Photo courtesy of the Huffington Post.

Back in 2011, the costume sparked an online petition to have it removed from the website and discontinued. It was removed but it resurfaced this year on a different online Halloween store.

The incident fueled the argument of how costumes for women are getting more and more inappropriate. It sparked outrage among numerous feminist sites and blogs.

"This outfit offends me not only as a feminist, but as a member of the eating disorder community. It pains me to know that there will actually be people walking around in this costume this Halloween," Camille C. said.

The Punk Singer

Sini Anderson only had 30 days to raise $44,000 to fund her documentary on one of her best friends and she went to Kickstarter to get the support she needed. But who was this best friend that deserved her very own documentary? It was Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kill, punk-new wave band Le Tigre and one of the most famously outspoken feminist icons of her generation.

"I thought it was a really good time for people to know not just about Le Tigre, but about her story," Anderson said of the lead singer in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. In the beginning, Hanna hesitated but soon was on board with the project and cooperated with telling the world about the struggles she encountered throughout her career, including a battle with Lyme Disease.

The film had its world premiere at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas and has since been on a tour across the United States playing in numerous film festivals. The film even made a stop in Long Beach at this years Q Film Festival where the film was followed by a question and answer session with the filmmakers.

"It was so much fun. I learned a lot of things about Kathleen Hanna that I did not know before. And Kurt Cobain was mentioned, too," Long Beach resident and riot grrrl supporter Viviana Gonzalez, 28, said.

The film will be released in theaters Friday, Nov. 29 and will also be available on Video on Demand on the same day.

Like a Red Prison

Photo courtesy of Gawker.com

Contrary to what people have heard or read about this group of masked women, they aren't just any punk band, they are a punk collective of activists from Moscow, Russia who, through their music and protests, have bravely put their opinion of their country's wrong-doings on the Internet for the rest of the world to see.

In 2011, a group of 11 Russian women founded their protest group and have used balaclavas and nicknames to hide their identities while staging performances in public locations all over Russia with their lyrics covering topics like lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, feminism and their opposition to the policies of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Their group gained major exposure after their performance in front of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February 2012 and arrest in March of three members: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich. Soon the images of these women behind bars were plastered all over the news and social media networks exploded with "free Pussy Riot" tags and their actions became new symbols of feminism and rebellion against the patriarchy.

In late September, Tolokonnikova wrote an open letter to the news site Lenta describing the prison's conditions as "unsanitary conditions in which women work through sickness and injury up to 17 hours a day and are beaten -- or worse -- for failing to complete their duties." She went on a hunger strike to protest the conditions but was forced to stop after she fell ill while staying in the prison hospital.

In her initial letter, Tolokonnikova also wrote,"I demand that the colony administration respect human rights. I demand that the Mordovia camp function in accordance with the law. I demand that we be treated like human beings, not slaves."

Typical Girls

In the 1990s, the riot grrrl movement stomped its way into the hearts of angst ridden young women who were tired of not seeing other strong women represent their beliefs in a male dominated music scene, though the 70s and 80s included a number of female punk and rock bands that would later help pave the way for future riot grrrls. The movement is often associated with the third-wave feminist movement that began around the same time with bands, mainly made up of women members, addressing issues like sexuality, rape, domestic abuse, the patriarchy and women empowerment.

Bands often associated with the riot grrrl movement include, L7, Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Hole, Red Aunts, the Butchies and Jack Off Jill, just to name a few.

In addition to music, the riot grrrl movement has been supplemented with the subcultures of political actions and activism, art, zines and the DIY belief. Riot grrrls are also known to start chapters and hold meetings in their communities in order to continue to show their support for women in music. 

Earlier this year, Long Beach, Calif. became the home of its own riot grrrl chapter called, duh, Long Beach Riot Grrrl. Founded by four Long Beach women who were frustrated with lack of respect for women in music in and around Long Beach. Their weekly meetings include activities that are open for anyone to attend, not just women.

In the following weeks, this blogger will explore the local riot grrrl movement and how it is helping supplement feminism and the issues that still plague women as well looking at how other movements and actions are helping feminism make its into the mainstream. Next week, Pussy Riot revisited.

“Riot grrrl is the gateway drug that girls use to find feminist history." 

--Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and The Julie Ruin.