RIOT GRRRL: a movement,a genre, an era or a scene?

Grounded in the DIY philosophy of punk values the riot grrrl movement was an underground feminist movement started in the 1990s. Oppressed and underrepresented in the punk/rock scene, these riot grrrls started to take an anti-corporate stance of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Adderessing issues such as rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, and female empowerment; bands such as Bikini kill,Bratmobile, Excuse 17, Free Kitten and L7 started a girl revolution against the society which offered no validation of women’s experiences.

Taking measures to include cultural politics in action, it gave strong women a voice to address important social issues through an empowered, female oriented community; holding meetings and starting magazines, journals and chapters. It taught people that they didn’t need to assimilate to somebody else’s standards and that the punk rock idea that “you could do anything” didn’t just apply to the boys. They used music to express their feminist and anti-racist viewponits and also talk about topics such as rape, incest and eating disorders. Hence young women on the sidelines of this music scene saw a crucial opportunity for self-expression and self-determination.Making ethics, art, political action, and activism a part of the movement, it resonated with the liberal third wave feminism. In a society where opportunity and recognition was narrowly delimited by gender, taught women to chant and practise a mantra of self dependence.

Though the movement was short lived and disappeared as quickly as it materialized, it did shake up and awaken the society then. As its influence has persisted, it resurfaces even now from time to time, some of its core principles like the need to fight back against sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism just hasn’t disappeared still resonates with even the contemporary believer of equality. I hope that “Girls to the front” inspires even more women to come up, claim their rights and participate in every sphere.