Riot Grrrl: Empowering Women and Changing the World

Take a moment and envision yourself accompanying your significant other at a highly anticipated punk rock concert. Upon arrival, he immediately insists that you play the role of a “good girlfriend” by holding his jacket while he and the rest of the male audience move up towards the mosh pit. You soon find yourself pushed and shoved to the back of the room, the farthest distance away from the stage as possible, along with hundreds of other “good girlfriends” as personified coat hangers. This was an issue faced by many women in the early 90’s who were interested in the punk rock scene, yet were unable to have their voices be heard, until now. Riot grrrl, a radical feminist movement that thrived in the underground punk scene has challenged the media to take a step back and recognize the women involved to be able to portray and express themselves without the need of society’s written standards of how or what the ideal woman should be. In Kevin Dunn and May Farnsworth’s article, “We ARE The Revolution”: Riot Grrrl Press, Girl Empowerment, and DIY Self-Publishing, the authors mention how riot grrrl members took matters into their own hands by establishing their own interpersonal sources of positive and influential media through utilization of radio shows, fanzines, television programs, and creative outlets to promote self expression and awareness. They had every good intention to carry these opportunities out since the media has long been known for deliberately distorting every ounce of truth they are given. Misconceptions of feminism have especially emerged through the deceitful tactics of the media and have managed to successfully establish a negative connotation with the movement of feminism. When questioned on the topic of feminism,...

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... permanent mark on today’s world. It may be considered a man’s world for now, but with the efforts of millions who support the same values that riot grrrl enforces, it will soon it will be a world of equality where both men and women have equal opportunities to have their voices be heard.

Works Cited

Downes, Julia. Women Make Noise: Girl Bands from Motown to the Modern. Twickenham: Supernova, 2012. Print.

Dunn, Kevin, and May Summer Farnsworth. "“We ARE The Revolution”: Riot Grrrl Press, Girl Empowerment, And DIY Self-Publishing." Women's Studies 41.2 (2012): 136-157. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Dec. 2015.

Leonard, Marion. Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse, and Girl Power. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2007. Print.

Meltzer, Marisa. Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music. New York: Faber and Faber, 2010. Print.