Riot Grrrl’s Lasting Effect on Feminism

This week I attended the American Film Institute’s screening of The Punk Singer, a documentary about Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of the Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. An outspoken advocate for women, Hanna made pro-women, pro-choice music during the 1990s and she witnessed sexual assault and violence against women at punk shows and experienced extreme sexism in the media.

Hanna was one of the frontrunners of the Riot Grrrl movement, which originated in Washington, D.C., and the Pacific Northwest. The movement stemmed from the sexism within the punk rock community, where women and girls were often physically injured and sexually assaulted at concerts, and many female fans didn’t feel safe participating in the things they loved. Often associated with third-wave feminism, Riot Grrrls published zines, created music, and produced other work that addressed female empowerment, abortion, patriarchy, rape, and domestic abuse. They also created a support network for burgeoning feminists during a time when the legal right to abortion was being attacked and Anita Hill’s testimony on sexual harassment resulted in her being personally berated by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As the director of The Punk Singer, Sini Anderson, said at the screening, Riot Grrrl (and Riot Grrrl music) was for many young women “their introduction to feminism.” Although the heyday of the Riot Grrrl movement has passed, it is imperative that the core values of the movement continue to flourish.

Twenty years after the inception of Riot Grrrl, women are still being discriminated against for reporting domestic violence. Restrictive abortion bills are still being pushed through. Women are still subjected to sexist stereotypes. And the discrimination isn’t just contained to the world of politics. While Riot Grrrl was seen as a do-it-yourself movement which encouraged young women everywhere to create works of art that spoke to other young women, the fact is, female musicians aren't on equal footing with their male counterparts. The majority of the films we watch don’t even come close to passing the Bechdel Test.

Now more than ever, we need to believe in the Riot Grrrl philosophy. Luckily, unlike our sisters from yesteryear, we have outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr to not only advocate for ourselves and our own rights but create communities of similarly minded people to speak out against sexist actions and policies. It is clear that the battle for gender equality is far from over. With the creative and outspoken aesthetic of the Riot Grrrl movement, young feminists all over this country must continue to fight to have their voices heard.