“Girls to the front!” – A command from Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill, and the key idea to the powerful Riot Grrrl movement as a whole.
Frustrated with sexism coloring everyday life, Riot Grrrl was a movement charged with aggressive music that shattered norms, and empowered women, not only through their music, but through fashion and DIY activism.
The Riot Grrrl movement was pure “noise, chaos, and revolution,” says Charlotte O’Brien, third year political science major at Oregon State University.
O’Brien states there was “a lack of involvement of women in punk, and [Riot Grrrl] used the term ‘girls’ intentionally to contrast the former belittling of women by men in punk.”
The respelling of ‘girl’ is intentional, meant to be more of a growl; aggressive, just like their music and its intention to “riot” against the norm. In their clothing, this showed up through the way they reclaimed traditionally “girly” elements. Key components included ripped tights, plaid skirts, smeared makeup, and customized pieces that created a style defiant yet feminine.
“Riot Grrl opened the doors for more women’s involvement in music,” O’Brien mentions.
Kathleen Vaught, a third year bioengineering major at Oregon State University, emphasizes this with her statement that “music is a universal language that we all can share and share our cultures and ideas. It’s really powerful, and I think sometimes people don’t recognize how powerful it really is.”
