Riot Grrrl: The Fierce Feminist Punk Movement That Changed Music

‘Riot grrrl’ songs often address issues such as assault, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, classism, anarchism, anti-fascist beliefs, and female empowerment. Bands most associated with the movement by media include ‘Bikini Kill,’ ‘Bratmobile,’ ‘Destroy Boys,’ ‘Heavens to Betsy,’ ‘Excuse 17,’ ‘Slant 6,’ ‘Jack Off Jill, ’ and ‘Skinned Teen’. There are also ‘queercore’ groups such as ‘Team Dresch’ and ‘Pansy Division’.

The word ‘girl’ was intentionally used to focus on childhood, a time when children have the strongest self-esteem and self-belief. ‘Riot grrrl’ then took a growling ‘R’, replacing the ‘I’ in the word as a way to take back the derogatory use of the term. Both double and triple ‘R’ spellings are acceptable. 

Journalism in ‘zines’ has a long legacy in the punk scene, for self-published feminist writing allowed women to circulate ideas that would not otherwise be published. A primary reason the movement began was that women in the music scene felt that they had no space to promote their opinions due to the male-dominated nature of punk culture at the time. Most punk women at the time felt they often had little to no voice in their local scenes. To quote Liz Naylor, who would become the manager of English riot grrrl band Huggy Bear: