"We're the girls with the bad reputations" : the rhetoric of Riot Grrrl
- WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Brittany Tyson Garrett (Creator)
- Institution
- Western Carolina University (WCU )
- Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/
- Advisor
- Beth Huber
Abstract: Throughout the 1980s, President Reagan’s administration waged an undeclared
war on feminism by defeating the Equal Rights Amendment and employing both the
Department of Education and U.S. Supreme Court as weapons against working and single
mothers. Despite the right wing’s successes, feminism survived through radical artists
such as Karen Finley and Barbara Kruger. The 1980s were also a decade plagued by
youth alienation as MTV entered cultural consciousness and materialistic adolescents
immersed in popular culture were distanced from their former hippie parents. On the
other end of the spectrum, adolescents that self-identified as outcasts moved further into
alternative scenes and raged against oppressive Reagan politics with “hardcore” punk. A
scene that has historically championed the underdog and resisted sexism grew aggressive
and unwelcoming to many women, inspiring them to create their own safe spaces.
Riot Grrrl is an influential and radical feminist movement that began circa 1991 in
response to women’s oppression by Reagan politics and absence in the masculine punk
scene. Riot Grrrl-associated bands, including Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, and prominent
grrrls such as Kathleen Hanna appealed to their young female audience’s needs and
emotions with the purpose of persuading them to create their own texts (namely music
and zines). Throughout the early 1990s, the mainstream media misrepresented and condescended Riot Grrrl as it saw the young feminist movement as both a threat and
potential source of economic gain. Despite the negative portrayals, riot grrrls sought the
creation of a positive feminist mythology. Grrrls urged each other to define Riot Grrrl for
themselves, to “write the body” in the words of Hélène Cixous. Riot Grrrl adopted punk’s
“Do It Yourself” ethos to utilize the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and Jacques Derrida and
become an empowering and heteroglossic movement with the goal of deconstructing
patriarchal society.
"We're the girls with the bad reputations" : the rhetoric of Riot Grrrl
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Created on 11/1/2011
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2011
- Keywords
- Bikini Kill, Feminist, Kathleen Hanna, Punk, Radical, Riot Grrrl
- Subjects
- Riot grrrl movement