You can say that it’s crappy, unoriginal, overtly angry, overtly angsty, redundant or even narrow-minded, but… you’d be wrong.
1. Riot grrrl’s non-exclusive, welcoming philosophy is one that stands in stark contrast to almost every other punk scene – ever. Clothes, hair and every other sort of cred-generating physical feature were irrelevant; anyone who cared about women’s rights and a girl powered revolution could be part of the “scene” without facing scrutiny.
2. Artistic mediums were smashed together into DIY experiments that never so much as looked at getting major label, “corporate” exposure. ‘Zines churned out on photocopiers and albums recorded in closets cycled through the riot grrrl community and found thousands of fans without ever feeling the need to sell out, give in or defy any other part of the indie-punk fantasy.
3. Kathleen Hanna. Enough said.
4. Teenage girls were taken seriously without surrendering their adolescence. Riot grrrl didn’t force teenagers to stop caring about things like boys and hair and the mall, it merely acknowledged the social pressure to be interested in those things and the detrimental effects.
5. Riot grrrl’s cheeky spin on “lipstick” feminism made it cool to be an enlightened, empowered female… who shaved her underarms. The archetypal, stereotypical vision of an “ugly” man-hater could be rendered obsolete at last.
6. Feminism finally made sense to teenagers. I know that I was never much interested in first or second wave stuff. But then, suddenly, Carrie and Alison and Kathleen were making punk records and fanzines, and it was interesting, and as an angsty 13 year old, it felt worth it.
7. ‘Zines provide a creative outlet like no other. I never really appreciated how fucking GENIUS some of them are until I started working on my own. It is not easy. It is much, much harder than blogging but at the same time it’s like the most intellectual arts ‘n crafts project ever, and it’s funnn.
8. Predecessors like X-Ray Spex, the Raincoats and Joan Jett got credit. Riot grrrls never denied their influences.
9. Say what you want about the quality of the music, but it has staying power. I know way more riot grrrl fans (do keep in mind that I tend to join groups and clubs and lists of “Feminists on Tumblr”, of course) than I do fans of like, 90′s electronic. It’s just a lot more exciting and inspiring and, sometimes, catchy than other musical scenes.
10. As Kathleen Hanna once said, “We’re not anti-boy, we’re pro-girl.” Riot grrrl never asked fans to hate men or exclude them, it just provided a venue and a safety net so that girls could be themselves and look at life without bias piled on by having only males be influential. There were even a fe
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário