I’m Not A Riot Grrrl
Over the past few years, I have been called a “Riot Grrrl” on numerous occasions. I think Riot Grrrls are pretty cool but I am not one and to tell you the truth, I’m not even sure that I could claim to have influenced or impacted that movement at all. Many of the women who were involved in creating Riot Grrrl were completely unaware of the women involved in creating the “first wave” punk scene.
By the time the male-dominated punk scene of the mid-late 1980′s created the need for women to call “girls to the front,” the systematic erasure of female
contributions to the West Coast punk scene had already been long
underway.
contributions to the West Coast punk scene had already been long
underway.
There was a time when women involved in the punk scene were simply called “punks.” No differentiators, qualifiers or labels were needed. For those first, crucial, formative years of punk during the late 1970’s, we all felt empowered, we all felt equal. We were co-creators of punk. To negate that part of punk history is to once again negate the contributions of women. Turning us all into Riot Grrrls positions us in a different time and location. I am not from Olympia; I am from East L.A.
Top to bottom: Kira Roessler, Penelope Houston, Dianne Chai, Karla Maddog, Trudie Arguelles, Patricia Morrison, Phranc, The Go-Go’s, Punks on the stairs at the Elks Lodge in Los Angeles, 1978.
In 1990, when Bikini Kill was being formed, I was playing in a band called Las Tres at Troy Café in downtown Los Angeles. Las Tres was made up of three Chicana punks. Like the Riot Grrrls, we clearly identified as feminist but we wrote and performed songs in English and Spanish about being women, about being brown. We were influenced by the sound of Mexican trios, which we fused with the spirit of punk rock. Maybe you’ve never heard of Troy Cafe, or Las Tres, or Mexican trios, but we were there, doing our own thing - not Riot Grrrls, but every bit as valid and meaningful.
In 1990, when Bikini Kill was being formed, I was playing in a band called Las Tres at Troy Café in downtown Los Angeles. Las Tres was made up of three Chicana punks. Like the Riot Grrrls, we clearly identified as feminist but we wrote and performed songs in English and Spanish about being women, about being brown. We were influenced by the sound of Mexican trios, which we fused with the spirit of punk rock. Maybe you’ve never heard of Troy Cafe, or Las Tres, or Mexican trios, but we were there, doing our own thing - not Riot Grrrls, but every bit as valid and meaningful.
So, while I praise the Riot Grrrl movement for advancing the cause of feminism with creativity and courage, please don’t call me a Riot Grrrl. I am a punk. My story matters and it doesn’t need to be changed or re-labeled.
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