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RIOT GRRRLS
A riot grrrl won't take shit from anyone, she is strong, independant,
and seemingly invulnerable,...a riot grrl can be anyone who is tired
of a male dominated or sexcist world...when it comes to music riot
grrl isoften reffered to as punk and bands that represent that are
bikini kill, hole, sleater kinney, babes intoyland, 7 year bitch,
bratmobile, lunachics etc..its just a group of grrls that want other
girls to join to fight for women rights..We have power, but we won't
use it to fuck you over. Power does not mean domination. It means
knowing when to fight, when to protect yourself, and how to maintain
freedom within an organized, egalitarian community. We know all
this shit, but we also have a sense of humor about it. Feminists
can snicker too. We can enjoy watching TV shows about car crashes,
reading porno mags, and playing video games with nerdy boys--and
even after ALL THAT, we're still out to help everybody have good
gender at the end of the day. What is good gender? It's about being
comfortable in your body, having pleasure in that body, despite
what tradition may tell you you're supposed to do with it. A look
between your naked legs is not a look at destiny. Fuck that shit
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Bikini Kill Zine:
WHY RIOT ?
BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak
to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.
BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other's
work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each
other
BECAUSE we must take over the means of production in order to create
our own moanings.
BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to our girlfriends-politics-real
lives is essential if we are gonna figure out how we are doing impacts,
reflects, perpetuates, or DISRUPTS the status quo.
BECAUSE we recognize fantasies of Instant Macho Gun Revolution as
impractical lies meant to keep us simply dreaming instead of becoming
our dreams AND THUS seek to create revolution in our own lives every
single day by envisioning and creating alternatives to the bullshit christian capitalist way of doing things.
BECAUSE we want and need to encourage and be encouraged in the face
of all our own insecurities, in the face of beergutboyrock that
tells us we can't play our instruments, in the face of "authorities"
who say our bands/zines/etc are the worst in the US and who attribute
any validation/success of our work to girl bandwagon hype.
BECAUSE we don't wanna assimilate to someone else's (boy) standards
of what is or isn't "good" music or punk rock or "good"
writing AND THUS need to create forums where we can recreate, destroy
and define our own visions.
BECAUSE we are un willing to falter under claims that we are reactionary
"reverse sexists" and not the true punk rock sou lcrusaders
that WE KNOW we really are.
BECAUSE we know that life is much more than physical survival and
are patently aware that the punk rock "you can do anything"
idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which
seeks to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women
everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours.
BECAUSE we are interested in creating non-hierarchical ways of being
AND making music, friends, and scenes based on communication + understanding,
instead of competition + good/bad categorizations.
BECAUSE doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and
challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community
that we need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism, able-bodieism,
ageism, speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-semitism and
heterosexism figures in our own lives.
BECAUSE we see fostering and supporting girl scenes and girl artists
of all kinds as integral to this process.
BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal
as sharing information and staying alive, instead of making profits
of being cool according to traditional standards.
BECAUSE we are angry at a society that tells us Girl=Dumb, Girl=Bad,
Girl=Weak.
BECAUSE we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused
and/or turned against us via the internalization of sexism as witnessed
in girl/girl jealousism and self defeating girltype behaviors.
BECAUSE self defeating behaviors (like fucking boys without condoms,
drinking to excess, ignoring true soul girlfriends, belittling ourselves
and other girls, etc...) would not be so easy if we lived in communities
where we felt loved and wanted and valued.
BECAUSE I believe with my whole heart mind body that girls constitute
a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for
real.
Bikini Kill Zine 2 (1991)
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