Kathleen Hanna

The video about Kathleen Hanna was extremely interesting to me. I really liked learning more about the Riot Grrrl movement and about her band Bikini Kill. Kathleen had the type of attitude that I wish I had. She was so care free and did not worry about anyone’s opinion of herself of her band. Her performances were very intense. Her songs had a very strong and clear message that could make some people uncomfortable while listening to them. One thing that really affected me was when Kathleen would tell the people at her concert “all girls to the front” in order to make the girls feel protected. It is sad that girls cannot even feel safe from being assaulted at a concert. I highly admire Kathleen for caring so much about women and keeping them safe. She took action to get the word out about her feelings on woman safety in her music and at her concert.

I found it very interesting that she dated (then married) a man who sang songs that had lyrics about girls doing his laundry. She is supposed to be this feminist woman spreading the word and she was afraid that dating this man would make people question her. Though I don’t really like the style of music that she sings, I could really feel how much she cared about what she was singing about by the way she performed. She would literally scream out the lyrics in anger and frustration and I think that is what made people so intrigued in her performances. Kathleen Hanna was a very interesting and inspiring person to read about.

The Punk Singer

            The documentary about Kathleen Hannah was both inspiration and filled with exciting chaos. I personally found this really interesting to watch, especially to learn about the feminist movement that they were trying to start. I think that Kathleen Hannah was always a feminist deep down, especially in college when she made a fashion show about feminism and domestic violence based on her friend who was attacked by a man. She was a very powerful women who stood up and talked about a lot of people tried to sweep under the rug and avoid. She didn’t care what anybody thought about her or what she believed in.

            When she first formed Bikini Kill in the early 1990’s,  it was just her and a couple of friends that performed songs to empower women and get their message out, but soon became really know and inspired women to basically not give a crap about men and just express what they felt like saying. My favorite part of Kathleen’s performance would have to be the way she would jump around, scream till veins popped out her neck because it was both entertaining, and informing of how serious she was about her lyrics.

             I remember in the documentary how she would wear certain clothes with messages on them, for example, when she wore a t-shirt dress with a muscular man wearing only speedos to basically show that this guy is wearing these tiny speedos, does that mean he’s asking for it? Also when she was in the band “Le Tigre”, Kathleen and JD Samson wore suits that stated “stop Bush”, which I think happened around the time of Bush deploying soldiers to Afghanistan, and she was really anti-war so she decided to protest.

            Even though when Kathleen Hannah sung her songs I couldn’t really understand her because of the screaming, but when I read the lyrics, they were really powerful because of the way she expressed it was in a very angry manner which made her stand out more. In the song “White boy” she’s talking about domestic violence and opens it up by quoting a guy from the crowd saying how girls ask for it by the way they act and even though they say it’s not true, it is. A quote that stood out to me in the song was “I'm so sorry if I'm alienating some of you
your whole fucking culture alienates me” because she’s not really sorry, she just wants men to see how women feel in these kind of situations.

                        The ending of the documentary really shocked me as to why she stopped singing, because I thought it was just something with her vocal chords or she got old and tired. Out of all of the diseases in the world, I never would have thought it was Lyme disease, and I can only imagine how much pain she was in, considering they caught it at a time where it was really hard to cure. I could see how uncomfortable and sad she was because she could do what she did most, which was sing, but at the same time I have a lot of respect for her to go through so much ,and still come back to make another album (The Julie Ruin).  This album was sort of like Kathleen’s comeback to shoe that she hasn’t stopped her movement and she will continue to spread the word of feminism.

blog entry#6

Kayla Leland 

Professor Santos 

EN-003 

Blog Entry #6 

 

The Punk Singer 

 

This week in class we have watched a documentary called  The Punk Singer, featuring Kathleen Hanna in which they talk about feminism and the riot grrrl movement. Kathleen Hanna was in the band Bikini Kill that was mainly about feminism and she later founded the riot grrrl movement. Kathleen wasn’t afraid to stand up for people who were raped or sexually abused as she helped and encouraged these woman to speak out. The beginning of the documentary opens with Kathleen singing a spoken word in which she repeatedly says "in the middle of the night in my house" in order to make her point across because she wanted to speak out. 

 

Kathleen Hanna performed with such a energetic presence and her voice was so strong that she was seen as this beam of light, screaming for what she believed in. As a result, Kathleen created a new role model for many women. One interesting thing I found in this documentary was how Kathleen talked about her first trust fall with her mother in which her mother dropped her and told her for that to be a lesson not to trust people. Kathleen later had the first riot girl movement at  a youth-based  activist organization in D.C which was called Positive Force. This influenced other girls to start riot grrrls all around the country and share their stories.  

 

I think her sickness was sad how it had allowed her to stop making  music for a long period. Kathleen had told everyone she had nothing else to say and wanted to stop performing when she knew she had more say. She didn’t want her sickness to define her. People may not believe her but it is the people out there that share her same story and go through the same experiences she had gone through that relate with her and that will listen to her music. Some people even argue against her and say those things never happened to her. 

Riot Grrrl

This week we watched "The Punk Singer" and it was a documentary about Kathleen Hanna. The main things she talk about in here songs were raped, domestic abuse, and assault all against women. She was sick and tired of women being treated poorly, so she told women to embrace there sexuality. Kathleen was a very loud singer. When we listen to one of her songs I could really make out what she was saying without looking at the lyrics. For the most part women seemed to love her. At her concerts she made men sit towards the back and all the women would come up front and at the beginning of the concert she said if you don't like my music than leave. Which I thought was great because she sings about women sexuality and if you didn't appreciate that than you had the option to leave.

Lady Gaga Performance

I never really watch the Oscars so I had no idea how great Lady Gaga's performance was, but when we watched it in class I was amazed. She was played a song about sexual abuse and had people that have been abused in the background. This performance was great because she could related to it. I never knew this but she had been raped at age 19. Which is very sad but her song spread awareness to everyone that watched. Sexual abuse is a really big problem and I think it was great she took the time to write it.

Newfound Admiration for Kathleen Hanna

        I had never heard of Kathleen Hanna before learning about her and the Riot Grrrl movement. To be honest, when I first heard her music I deemed myself uninterested in her and her genre. However, after watching The Punk Singer, learning more about Kathleen and her story, and discussing her in class, I gained a whole new level of respect and admiration for her.

Growing up, Kathleen had a difficult childhood which is something that I can really relate to. Learning about some of the things she went through, definitely made me want to learn more and look to her lyrics more than just the style in which she performed them. By her being so transparent with the world, I think it allowed for more women to be able to relate to her and feel less alone. I loved when I read that she would send the men to the back of the venue and have all of the women come to the front. I believe, so many of the women that followed Kathleen were broken and just looking for someone with the courage to speak out about what they may not have been strong enough to verbalize. I think that Kathleen helped to inspire so many women to put an end to their silence and also brought awareness to men.

One thing that I found almost heartbreaking was the idea that Kathleen had in her head when it came to her always feeling like what she went through was not that bad. Yes, there will always be someone who has gone through something far worse than what you may have gone through, but that doesn't make your experience any less important. I feel as though she minimized her trauma and focused so much on helping others that I kind of wonder where her heart was surrounding her own struggles. I know she comes across as an extremely strong and confident woman, however, I feel like there is more to her than we know. I also cant help but wonder if her sickness was combined with her just feeling heavily burdened. I may be reading too far into it, but I just know from experience that no matter how confident you come across or how many people you may help, if you don't help yourself first, you'll end up empty and end up struggling to stay afloat in the long run.

        Regardless, I am so glad I was able to learn about Kathleen and hear her story. I truly admire her strength, honesty and power in the music industry as well as in the feminist movement. I feel as though more people, especially women should know about her, and exude her confidence and unapologetic feminism.

The Punk Singer

Before watching The Punk Singer, I didn't know all that much about Kathleen Hanna. I knew she helped to form the Riot Grrrl Movement. After listening to her story, I gained so much respect for her, and the mission she had. I'm not one to listen to punk music, but I actually was really interested in listening to Kathleen's story, regardless of her genre.

Many things from the movie really stood out to me. One of these things was when her friend was raped, and pushed and shoved her around by a man. Kathleen create a fashion show in the library at her school. One of the pieces they wore had "He dragged me up the stairs by my neck" written on it. Having a fashion show in the school library is kind of ballsy regardless, but to write that across the dress is bold and very brave. After Kathleen and her friends created their band, Bikini Kill, they decided that they didn't care if they made money, they just wanted people to hear them and their message. They sang about feminism and how men objectify women. The song White Boy that we listened to in class, actually made me disgusted. The boy claimed that girls "ask for it" by the way they act and the way they dress. It's horrible. There's this huge double standard that girls are sluts when they have sex with guys, but guys are literally praised by the number of girls they can bang. It's not right. I'm obviously not suggesting that every girl should go have sex with a huge number of guys, I'm simply saying that the double standard shouldn't exist. Especially guys calling other girls sluts.

Kathleen was straightforward, and it showed in her music. She knew she would get some backlash, but she was telling the truth. Something the media was so hush hush about. They tried to hid the fact that it wasn't a real problem, but Kathleen wanted people to know that it was, it was so real, but so very overlooked. She stated in the documentary how she was hesitant to broadcast everything she went through. First, she didn't want to play the poor me card, because she knew people had it a lot worse than she did. But she also thought that if she came out and told everyone all these terrible things that has happened to her, that no one would believe her. "Who would believe me?" She stated in the video. "Other women." 

I wish more people/ celebrities today had the same attitude about loving your self image that she does. It's so inspiring how she wasn't going to let a man get in her way. She brought so many important topics to the surface that people ordinarily don't think about, and good for her for not caring what people thought about it.

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.

Riot Grrrl

I didn’t know that much about the riot grrrl movement until we watched The Punk Singer this week.  Throughout the film we follow the life of Kathleen Hanna.  Kathleen Hanna spoke out to break the silence for women.  She stood up for those being raped, abused, assaulted and treated like shit.  Hanna wanted girls to embrace their sexuality by standing up and out against men.  She was a huge motivational musician that helped women speak out against.  The biggest shock throughout learning about Kathleen Hanna was the things she would say on stage.  No one else, that was a women, spoke out so pissed off, so straight forward and inspirational for other women.

            When Hanna first went to college it was for some sort of art.  She always knew she would be in the art field.  When she was 18 years old, Hanna had a fashion show in the school library.  She designed a dress with the words “as he dragged her upstairs by her neck” which reflects on her roommate who was sexually assaulted when Kathleen wasn’t home.  This was a large eye opener because who wants to stomach reading that and thinking of that while at a fashion show.  That was just out of the ordinary.  She made a statement then and wasn’t stopping there.  

            When Kathleen started singing she spoke out just as much for women then as she did when she designed that dress.  At her concerts she would have all the women move to the front and get away from the men who could end up throwing the women around in mosh pits.  She would scream into the mic and let her words be heard through everyone at her shows.  She told people if they didn’t like the music then pretty much leave.  She spoke out for women and showed she didn’t care what anyone else thought of her. She was going to start a revolution. 

            I’m glad I learned about her.  She was embracing her sexuality, speaking out for all women and making people aware.  It made others want to do the same.  She was the beginning of the riot grrrl movement that is still moving today.

Kathleen Hanna

     I found Kathleen Hanna to be a very powerful and motivating artist and singer. She was a feminist activist that spoke about feminism through her music. In October 1990, Kathleen Hanna and a couple other friends started a punk rock band called Bikini Kill which later sparked the riot grrrl movement. The band consisted of three girls and a male guitarist. Kathleen Hanna was the singer and songwriter, Billy Karren was the guitarist, Kathi Wilcox was the bassist, and Tobi Vail was the drummer. They went out and preformed to get what they wanted to say across, they weren’t looking for money and they didn't care if people like what they had to say or not they were going to keep preforming. People at the time would criticize the band and say that they weren’t in tune and that they didn’t know how to play their instruments, but that didn’t stop them. Kathleen said if people didn’t like their music or what they had to say they could just leave, no one was stopping them. She was a very aggressive and powerful singer especially for a women of this time period, and I think thats why she attracted so many people. Kathleen was not afraid to say what she had to say and a very powerful thing that she did was at her concerts was she asked all the men to move to the back and for the women to step forward toward the stage. This was just another way she stood up for women, made them feel safe in a crowd that wouldn’t always be safe for them, and give them privileges that in most concerts wouldn’t be even mentioned. Kathleen Hanna sung about topics that were hard and uncomfortable for most people to listen to such as rape, like in the song “white boy”. The lyrics were very upfront and she held back nothing, which might have made people uncomfortable but she was able to get her point across and the issue out there, leaving people to think about the issue she was addressing. I feel Kathleen Hanna is a very inspiring artist, even though I didn’t necessarily love her songs, I loved how confident she was and how she was able to bring up controversial and even uncomfortable topics forward in a very abrupt way, with no shame in order to stick up for what she believed and how she felt. 

RIOT GRRRLS!

 So far in this class, my favorite article that we were assigned to read is Pussy Rioting: The Nine Lives of the Riot GRRRL Revolution.  I was already fond of and familiar with the Riot Grrrl movement before this class but that article made me appreciate it more. I wish that I had grown up during this movement because I myself am and woman involved in the punk scene. I found it very interesting that they tried to redefine the word girl. They were “angry at a society that tells us that girl=dumb, girl=bad, girl=weak,” and want to want to change the meaning of word to represent soul force and something that can change the world for real.  I look up to the bands and woman involved in Riot Grrrl because they didn’t make their music for the purpose of making money or to get famous, they made their music to reach out to girls all over and take a stand for the rights that they all deserve. They did not try to perfect their music but focused on the noise and messages they tried to get out in their songs. Their music was rebellious, in your face, and fast paced, which are qualities still instilled in punk music today.  They wanted Riot Grrrl to be something that all girls could feel a part of and wanted it to defined by whatever anyone wants it to be. Riot Grrrl’s were against the norms and of society and went against the media. They used DIY ethos to get their messages out by preforming and setting up their own shows, recording and handing out their own cds, and by creating their own vine. It was brave of them to go on stage with words like bitch and slut written on their barely clothed bodies. I believe they did this to backlash against getting stereotyped as just sexual objects to men. They wanted to take away the rights of those stereotyping them by plasting it on themselves. They raised up a lot of controversy by singing about and speaking out about issues such as sexual identity, racism awareness, sexual abuse, and self-preservation. No other artists at the time were so freely and outspoken about these issues. In the article it says that the Riot Grrrl was seen to have died by saying, “For some Riot Grrrls, the exploitative media scrutiny was the accomplice if the not the killer itself”. The media did use this movement to profit by selling punk fashion in stores and placing very thin and done up models on the cover of magazines wearing underwear to advertise the movement.  I don’t believe that this movement died though, because its cause spread to all parts of the world. Its significance is still important today because woman are now more accepted in the punk scene.

The Amber Rose “SlutWAlk” 2015 was an event funded by donation of celebrities like Nicki Manaj and others and had as its main purpose to spread awareness about the concept “slut shaming” or slamming a person for its sexual choices.  The even that took place in Los Angeles, California and it was attended by several hundred of people, mostly women. Some women used their semi naked body as a way of saying women should be able to wear whatever they feel like wearing without being scared of discrimination but most important without being scared of rape and other women covered their body with slangs such as” Don’t tell me what to wear tell them what to wear”, No more raping.  According to Amber Rose one of the main reason she decided to organize this event was to bring together women who share the same feelings, beliefs towards the same problem, she believes that what a women wears should not give anyone the right to rape them, and she also believes women should be comfortable to wear whatever they desire and their dress code should not define who they are.  Amber Rose is a feminist who fights for women right but a lot of people think it is not right for Amber to try to make women think they should be exposing their body, and unlikely half of the society Amber does not define “slut shaming” equally.  To Amber the concept “slut shaming” does not mean anything more than just because a women is wearing clothes that exposes her and her body feature she is a slut.  Her point was clearly and she believes the society and how people think are the only wrong thing that should be changed.   Just like Amber Rose so many other groups of fought for women right, but some people believed Ambers cause was pointless and she should feel ashamed of influencing females in general to expose their body.  However Amber seems not to care about what people have to say and according to her she is focused on her cause and she will be until the end, and most likely there will be a “SlutWalk” 2016.