44 Writings I Need For This Blog

I am in need of some articles and writings for this blog. I will add to this list as I see fit. The ones listed below are ideas for articles and writings and are some writings/articles I need for the blog. By writing the article (or articles), You will be emailed an invite to join this blog and will be able to post up your writing on the blog. Be sure to let others know that you wrote the article (or articles).

ARTICLES AND WRITINGS NEEDED:

1-History of riot grrrl: how, why, where, when, and who started it. (about the music and the movement)
2-History of feminism: how, why, where, when, and who started it.
3-The 3 waves of feminism.
4-The many different types of feminism such as: anarcha-feminism, individual feminism, radical feminism, and all the others.
5-Write about your favorite feminism/riot grrrl website or write a review of your favorite feminism/riot grrrl website. (can be blogs, websites, forums, etc.)
6-Write your own definition of what feminism means to you.
7-What does riot grrrl mean to you? (Write as much or as little as you want.) Describe riot grrrl in your own words.
8-Write about being a riot grrrl in another country. What’s the riot grrrl scene like where you live? Is there a chapter where you live? Any riot grrrl bands where you live? How did you get into riot grrrl? How long have you been into riot grrrl?
9-Write about how you got into riot grrrl. What, how, when, who, and where made you get into riot grrrl?
10-Write about being a riot boy: how, when, who, what, and where did you get into riot grrrl?
11-Write your own riot boy manifesto. (I already have a version on my website.)
12-Write about being a male feminist: how, when, who, what, and where did you get into riot grrrl?
13-Write some feminism questions that you would like answered or start a feminism FAQ (frequently asked questions) of your own and the answers to them.
14-Write some riot grrrl/boy questions that you would like answered or start a riot grrrl FAQ (frequently asked questions) of your own and the answers to them.
15-Write about women’s issues important to you.
16-Write about feminism and what it means to you.
17-Write how you got into feminism and why.
18-Make a list of reasons on why your a feminist. Try to think of 50 or more reasons, if you can. 10-20 reasons will do too.
19-Make a list of reasons on why your a riot grrrl. Try to think of 50 or more reasons, if you can. 10-20 reasons will do too.
20-Write some DIY tips or share yours. Share your own DIY stuff.
21-Write something about being an activist/ or about activism.
22-Write something about zines or your life as a zinester.
23-Write about your ladyfest or a ladyfest you attended.
24-Write about a riot grrrl chapter or your own riot grrrl chapter.
25-Write about being pro-choice, why your pro-choice, or what it means to you.
26-Write something about how riot grrrl and queercore music are connected.
27-Write something about how riot grrrl and grunge music are connected.
28-Write something about how riot grrrl and punk music are connected.
29-Write something about feminism in other countries. What’s feminism like in your country or other countries?
30-Write something about human rights in your country or another country.
31-Write something about equal rights.
32-Write about why is feminism important today.
33-Write your own definition of what a riot boy is to you. Give your own definition of riot boy.
34-Write your own Zine DIY guide.
35-Write how to start a riot grrrl chapter DIY guide.
36-Write your own list of ways to be an activist.
37-Write a review of a zine or your favorite zine.
38-Write about your experience with the Riot Grrrl Online website.
39-Write about the Riot Grrrl Online website or do a review of the website. If you write about the website, write how you found the website, how you got active in the website and why. I’m sure there are more things you can write about the website, as long as your a reader or fan of the website, your input is appreciated.
40-A review of your riot grrrl or feminist website.
41-Write a news story. Write about an issue or topic important to you or an issue/topic you think would be important to others that is happening in the news.
42-Write your own women’s issue story. If you are a survivor (of anything from rape to cancer, etc.), I’d like to hear your story and what you went through.
43-Write how to start a ladyfest.
44-Write how to start your own record label and/or band.

If your interested in writing one of these articles, Feel free to read the “contribute” page and reply to the “contribute” page or email me. If you comment on the “contribute” page or email me, Please specify which article (or articles) you want to write about by letting me know which number or numbers (# or #’s) your interested in writing. If you have your own ideas for writings or whatever, feel free to email me some of yours.

*This is also posted on the “Ideas” page.

Important Riot Grrrl Bands

The first 3 lists below were taken from: http://altmusic.about.com/od/genresstyles/p/riot_grrrl.htm. The “Other Bands Considered Riot Grrrl” list was made by Greta/grrrlriot. (me) Some of the bands I made in my list are from all over the world.

Key Riot Grrrl Bands:
Bikini Kill
Bratmobile
Sleater-Kinney
Huggy Bear
Team Dresch
Excuse 17
Slant 6

Riot Grrrl-Like:
L7
Babes In Toyland
Heavens To Betsy
Lunachicks
7 Year Bitch

Post-Riot Grrrl:
Le Tigre
Peaches
Chicks On Speed
The Donnas
The Gossip
The PeeChees

Other Bands Considered Riot Grrrl:
Bitch Alert
Candysuck
Dominatrix
Erase Errata
The Frumpies
Hang On The Box
Hole
Partyline
Patti Smith

Riot Grrrl Online’s Social Network: Something You Didn’t Know

This post refers to my previous post located here.

If you read that post, you know that you can create your own profile on the website. Did you know that you can create other profiles too, if you want? Feel free to create your own band, zine, riot grrrl chapter, feminist chapter, feminist organization, activist, ladyfest, etc. profiles on there as well. For your information, The profiles are the same as personal profiles. There’s no difference between them. You can also create groups on the website as well.

For more information, go to the social network website below.

The Riot Grrrl Online Community Social Network

Support the Support Act!

As a huge fan of music and a regular national and local gig goer, something has been bothering me just recently. It’s all about support acts at any tour or gig in this country, I won’t speak for other countries as I don’t know if it’s the same worldwide, I’ve not been to any gigs anywhere else in the world (yet).

My problem is us British people show no enthusiasm at all for any support acts. Every gig I’ve been to recently, while the support act is on, people just stand there not moving, not even tapping their feet and giving the least exciting applause you can get.

I appreciate that the majority of people are not there to see the support act, of course they are there to see the main headliner. But does this really mean we shouldn’t show them any interest? If the shoe was on the other foot, and you were there to see the support act mainly, you’d be quite upset that no one else was interested in them. I know when I saw Joan Jett and the Blackhearts supporting Motorhead and Alice Cooper, I felt quite sad that I couldn’t get up and dance as I felt uncomfortable as no one else around me was moving at all or even smiling! And this was someone as famous as Joan Jett!

My theory is even if we don’t know the support act or particularly like them, we should either not come until the person we want to see is on, so that the people that have come to see them can enjoy them, or we do our best to show them our support! This band/s has probably either been asked by the band you’ve came to see or is perhaps on their record label or needs exposure. In any which case, if you’re a real fan of the band you’ve came to see, you will be happy that they’ve provided you with some other music to enjoy whilst you wait for them to get ready to perform!

So my thought is to have this manifesto, the Support the Support Act Manifesto! This the manifesto itself:

I will show my support for support bands at every gig/tour I go on. I will dance to them even if no one else is, I will at the very least tap my feet or nod my head, I will clap loudly after every song. I will not say how terrible they are to other members of the audience. If I think they are, I will talk about it to my friends away from the gig itself. I will be thankful that the band I’ve came to see has bothered to put some more entertainment on for me, I will appreciate that the band needs exposure and that there may be some people that have came just to see them. I will support the support act!

If you agree with this manifesto, please copy and paste it and put it into your myspace/face book/blog wherever you can where people will see it!

Tell Me About Riot Grrrl in Le Tigre’s Words

TELL ME ABOUT RIOT GRRRL!
Taken from Le Tigre’s website at http://www.letigreworld.com
http://www.letigreworld.com/sweepstakes/html_site/fact/fact.html

We are proud that Le Tigre is often considered one trajectory of Riot Grrrl, i.e. we are one art-damaged, deconstructive, performance-art, electronic pop off-shoot of the grassroots punk feminist organizing and cultural production of the nineties! This is not to say that Riot Grrrl does not exist anymore — we still hear of local chapters that are active — but the members of Le Tigre are not personally involved with Riot Grrrl now. (If you are in a Riot Grrrl group or any feminist group and would like us to link to yr website please email us. What is Riot Grrrl? What happened to it? We are asked these questions all the time and they are really difficult to answer. Many individuals, bands, zines, artists and scenes were lumped under this term once the “sexy new” punk feminism gained a little media attention. This gave the false impression that there was a centralized ideology or leadership unifying disparate constellations of feminist art and agitation. Journalistic narratives of Riot Grrrl also tended to isolate it from both a larger feminist history and from its own cultural moment in which a variety of media-savvy activist groups were changing the face of social protest (for example, ACT-UP!, Queer Nation, the Guerilla Girls, and WAC). So while we would not presume to define Riot Grrrl we can characterize it and make some observations that reflect our personal experiences (you can read about Kathleen’s involvement with the early Riot Grrrl meetings in DC in her herstory section).

In the early days of Riot Grrrl, exciting and strange girl bands were forming and touring, new feminist and queer aesthetics, vocabularies, and activist strategies were taking root in punk scenes, and intense penpal alliances were being forged. The founding members of Le Tigre (Kathleen, Jo, and Sadie Benning) met via their participation in this loose underground network of like-minded artists.

Riot Grrrl was, in part, a response to male dominated punk/hardcore scenes. As much as it reacted to and critiqued certain masculinist values and structures of punk rock, it was intrinsically connected to the DIY, anti-corporate, anti-capitalist values of those underground scenes (as well as intertwined socially and aesthetically with them). The way that punk music mocked notions of rock ‘n’ roll virtuosity and traditional stardom, the bands that were associated with early Riot Grrrl questioned the posturing and conventions of a boy-ruled punk scene by making stripped down punk music paired with feminist subject matter and performance strategies. Riot Grrrl meetings were similar to the feminist consciousness-raising groups of the 70’s. Mixed in with the practical work associated with making and distributing zines, promoting shows, organizing conventions, and doing activism, there was much discussion of women’s experiences of sexism, sexual abuse, assault and harassment, body-image, queer identities, and how all of these things intersect with class and race.

Riot Grrrl is/was not without its flaws, failures, inadequacies and dramas which we shall not enumerate here. But for whatever it’s worth, Riot Grrrl as a cultural phenomenon did, and hopefully will continue to make changes in the popular discourse surrounding “women in rock” (or whatever you wanna call it), and has created a lasting international network of feminist promoters, labels, writers, dj’s, journalists, musicians, artists, and fans so that a freaky band like Le Tigre could exist, make records, tour, and stay up all night writing crazy shit for our website!

Feminism Friday: A Brief History Of Riot Grrrl

Here is a brief history of riot grrrl. Later, I might write my own more detailed version. Here is the version from the Riot Grrrl Online website.

Riot Grrrl began in 1991 at Olympia Washington, when a few girls (mostly from Bikini Kill and Bratmobile) decided to get together and talk about their main interests..feminism and punk rock. The first time they met it was all fun, they put up posters to get attention of other open minded girls. Then they found out they had other things in common: they were all vegetarians; against drugs; and had been molested as children. At one meeting a very smart girl took notes, photocopied them and turned them into a cool fanzine. That’s how it all began. Some people think that Bikini Kill started it all, in my eyes they did. Bikini Kill, however does not think of themselves as starting the riot grrrl movement. In Bikini Kill’s songs, they sing about different women issues such as: rape, incest, and other issues that some women face. Some people think that bikini kill, riot grrrls, and feminists are ‘man-haters’. They’re not. They just want to be equal to men, not better to them. Zines are a BIG part of the riot grrrl scene. Most riot grrrls believe in DIY. (do it yourself) That means that they start riot grrrl chapters, zines, etc. of their own around the riot grrrl movement.

“I am an anarchist!”- Sex Pistols

I live in Miami now. A few years ago, I lived in New York, on Long Island. I was in an all grrrl punk band. My first band ever. We broke up. Hey… live and learn. Maybe it’ll work next time around.  Anyway, I wanted to comment on how very GREAT it was to be in NY for that time. Some of my favorite things there were of course, The Village. You know how you walk down one road and feel what you feel there. Well, walking down the streets in The Village for the first times were like walking through a real place. I mean, alive with people and alive with rich history. Rich American history. The Ramones played there at CBGB’s. CBGB’s is still there (although punk hasn’t been really living there at that club for a while). Some bands are great. Some bands live on forever and keep inspiring the next generation. They are so alive and so elecrtic that even if you don’t get to see them perform live, their spirit still can reach you through CD’s they’ve recorded, or even by watching a video of them. Patti Smith wrote in New York. She was a feminist! Maybe ahead of her time. Who cares. She was there. She was alive and she inspired generations to come. I love people like this for the work they have done. They have touched my life in a positive way, when so very many have done their part to reap destruction. Funny how even just a few bright lights in the world bring so much light. God bless them.   

-Zermerkle

The Evolution of Girl Power in Music

When the words “Girl Power” are mentioned, it’s most people’s immediate reaction to automatically think of the Spice Girls.

But was it really the Spice Girls who started the “Girl Power” movement and what about Girl Power in the modern day? Does it still exist in music and who are the representatives of it now?

Even though the Spice Girls may have been one of the first bands to actually use the phrase “Girl Power” and also be very successful, I believe the roots of girl power in music started a long time before.

How about back in 1952? She probably never even uttered the phrase, but surely Big Mama Thornton was a damn good start for “Girl Power” in music to begin. For those who don’t know, Big Mama Thornton was actually the first artist to sing the song “Hound Dog”, which has now sadly been overshadowed by the Elvis Presley version. Her version was also very successful, it was number one on the Billboard R and B charts for seven weeks. Big Mama Thornton was a blues legend and is still relevant today. She was performing all her life, right up to her death. If that’s not “Girl Power” I don’t know what is!

The next stage in the evolution of “Girl Power” was in the sixties. Of course, feminism was not at the stage it is now, but women in music was making a big impression. In the sixties, all the girl groups emerged, such as The Supremes and The Ronettes. The girls in these bands may not have been feminists, but there’s no doubt about their success and popularity. Songs like “Baby Love” by The Supremes and “Dancing in the Street” by Martha and The Vandellas have lasted the test of time.

The nineties of course, were a turning point for “Girl Power” in music. Most notably, The Spice Girls.  However there were many more bands and artists that embodied “Girl Power” in this decade. The bands Bikini Kill, L7, Bratmobile and many others helped to create the genre “Riot Grrrl”.

“Riot Grrrl” was a true form of Girl Power. The artists associated with the Riot Grrrl movement were feminists, and not afraid to speak up for issues they believed in. They provided inspiration for women around the world with their political song lyrics and DIY philosophy. Riot Grrrl may not have been mainstream but it created a new stage in the evolution of Girl Power in music. One where women were not only successful, but good role models for girls and women by just being themselves and not just women looking pretty. Riot Grrrl still exists now, although it is still not in the mainstream.

This could change though, as bands like The Gossip now become more successful. Their lead singer Beth Ditto, is not your typical front woman, she is large and proud of it. Yet the media has now embraced to her, she even posed naked on the cover of NME.
So, now we are in the noughties, what is the current state of “Girl Power”? I personally believe Beth Ditto is the front woman currently for this notion. She is happy with the way she looks, and is generally a good role model for girls, she even writes an advice column in The Guardian newspaper.

Other than Beth, there is definitely a new “Girl Power” movement emerging. The artists I think are leading this now are people like Lily Allen and Kate Nash. I know many people may argue it’s bands like Girls Aloud and Beyonce that are “Girl Power”. Yes, they may be successful but are they really good role models for girls? Girls Aloud lost lots of weight after becoming successful and yet only a few months ago they rated their bodies very low and said they would consider plastic surgery in a magazine interview. Beyonce uses her bum as a selling point. Girl Power? I don’t think so!

Lily Allen and other similar singers like Kate Nash and Remi Nicole write witty, intelligent lyrics and in my opinion are far better role models for girls. Lily Allen isn’t afraid to say what she thinks, and even though she at one point wrote on her MySpace blog that she was unhappy and considering plastic surgery, she later retracted this statement and stated there’s more to life than being thin! I love the fact that at the recent V Festival she slated magazines like Heat for making women feel bad.

To conclude, “Girl Power” in music has certainly come a long way. “Girl Power” is not necessarily about literally shouting it from the rooftops, “Girl Power” is about being a woman and successful. “Girl Power” is not being afraid to be who you are and not caring what people think of you, but yet creating a positive image of yourself. Girls need role models to look up to who they can relate to. Music is a great way to influence them, so my message to women in music make yourself heard and believe in yourself!