Riot Grrrl Theory & Activism: Contact

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Riot grrrl mash-up: critical theory meets third-wave feminism

Hello.

This blog is a research tool for recording, contemplating, cataloging, and synthesizing observations and conversations related to the topic of riot grrrl feminism.

Riot grrrl is often associated with third-wave feminism, but this blog seeks to deconstruct the pre-existing narrative of the riot grrrl aesthetic which centers urbanity. Instead, this blog seeks to explore the ways in which the riot grrrl aesthetic, philosophy, and vibration affected girls and women coming of age in the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s.

The timing of this blog is highly relevant due to the fact that riot grrrl feminism is becoming a new academic field of study.

Thus, this critical, theoretical and applied blog investigation is necessary because it expands the scope of the riot grrrl movement to include independent women to include young women growing up in Appalachian, rural, or lush environments, as opposed to urban environments.

The focus of this blog also falls under the category of DIY , or Do It Yourself, as an art form of empowerment since many riot grrrls may not have had access to or the desire to play the musical instruments often associated with riot grrrl's musical twin, punk rock. In addition to musicians, riot grrrls were and are academics, artists, bloggers, crafts-people, creative writers, fashionistas, moms, muralists, sisters, webdesigners, and friends .

Also, this blog seeks to comment on the experiences of riot grrrls whose geo-spatial locations were largely outside the realm of urban settings.

Riot grrrl feminists of color, have long been a part of the DIY experience and have a perspective on this analogue to second-wave feminism that this blog includes.

You are welcome to participate in this on-line experience in the spirit of inquiry.

Why riot grrrl?

I view riot grrrl as an outgrowth of the do it yourself artistic and freedom of expression movements associated with the late 1960s and early 1970s. Riot grrrl is thought to have died out, and now that I have relocated from a small college town to Los Angeles, I do wonder whether riot grrrl's time has passed (but that is the subject of a future blog post).

It seems to be the case that music genres typically associated with the scene - such as punk, grunge, post-punk, new-wave, and alternative - are on the wane.

Still, I see the echo of riot grrrl in anarcha-feminist discourse, and the push for women to define themselves as leaders and marketers of their own brand.

A child of academics, who grew up in small, college towns, I did not experience the urban riot grrrl scene often associated with groups like Bikini Kill. However, I did edit my high school newspaper, write and tell my own stories, and those of others, and helped my mom and other women organize a women's arts festival at West Virginia University. I created my own small press, Pretty Kitty Publishing which has developed into an academic website: Pretty Kitty Publishing.org.

Before creating my on-line presence, I published a collection of poems, Red Dust Daughter, covering themes largely associated with riot grrrl.

My intellectual and creative influences included Mary Daly, Audre Lorde and Simone de Beauvoi r and the musicians Ani DiFranco and Joan Armatrading - among many, many others.

O. And I always considered myself a feminist.

-- Gail Taylor
(9/6/2010)

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