Riot Grrrl Movement

                  This week in class, we were told to watch a documentary called, “The Punk Singer”. Usually, I am not one to like documentaries or punk music, so I was very skeptical when I went to watch it. When I turned on the documentary, I loved it from the very first five minutes I was watching it. All I kept thinking was, “Who is this girl? Why is she screaming in a room full of people? Why doesn’t she care what they think?”. I soon found out that girl was Kathleen Hanna. Kathleen is an American musician and feminist activist. In the early-to-mid 90’s, Hanna decided that she was going to form a band. She wanted to form a band to spread her messages about feminism and political issues. The band she formed was called, “Bikini Kill”.

                  There were many things I enjoyed about this band. First of all, their music was very catchy, aggressive, and got the point across. Kathleen didn’t sugar coat anything she said and I loved that about her. She sang what she wanted to sing and said what she wanted to say and didn’t care what anyone thought about her. I also liked how although they were on tour, not making much money, sleeping in a van, she didn’t care. None of them cared. They weren’t trying to be the next big thing. They were trying to open people’s eyes about the issues going on at the time and about feminism. I also have a lot of respect for her because at the concerts, she would say “Girls to the front, I want all the girls to the front, come on guys, go to the back.”, she was protecting the females from the moshing and whatever else was going on at the concert. I think that Kathleen is a very positive influence for women because she was who she wanted to be. She didn’t care what anyone thought of her.

                  I really wish the world was more like that today. There is so much pressure for girls to be perfect. We are automatically suppose to have perfect hair, skin, nails, bodies, and personalities. Media now a days really impacts how girls around the world feel about themselves and how they’re looked at. I think it is very important for girls all around the world to love themselves and look at themselves in a positive way because everyone is different, and everyone has their own flaws. Kathleen really had the “I don’t care what people think” attitude, and I wish more people, including myself had that same attitude about what other people think.