Connecting the Dots

Participation in punk rock subcultures and feminist activist groups have been two separate pathways to empowerment and liberation for young women seeking to challenge oppressive norms of femininity. The emergence of the Riot Grrrl movement in the early 1990s created an opportunity for the fusion of these ideologies, merging the punk ethos of “do-it-yourself” (DIY) with a critique of sexism and patriarchy. Born out of a desire to empower women to become “cultural producers” (Kearney 1998), the Riot Grrrl movement played an important role in rewriting feminism for the twenty-first century. ¹ Riot Grrrls spread explicitly feminist concerns through the circulation of politically informed punk music and grrrl zines. ² Using these and various other means of subcultural production, this loosely knit grassroots movement combined a feminist consciousness with punk aesthetics and politics.