riotgrrl

feminism?

theres so much shit written on feminism and so many different ways of looking at it that i dont even know where to start. well, i kinda do....

riot grrl?

im not a riot grrl but i think that the riot grrl movement is a really cool and interesting part of feminism. riot grrl, in my opinion is a sort of rebellion within the punk scene. it parallels the way that punk rebels against society as a whole. It's an important part of the punk scenes everywhere especially at a time when there seem to be fewer and fewer girls interested in punk. its becoming all too common to go to a show and see a whole room full of punkrock boys dancing around and their not-punk girlfriends standing in the back holding their boyfriend's jackets and looking cute.

"But We've Already Reached Equality!" you say? um, no.

look at all the statistics. women work at the same jobs as men with the same amount of education and still get paid less. in so many countries (check out Afganistan, for a truly extreme example) women are treated as objects and subjected to all kinds of abuse. In many parts of the world practices such as bride-burning are still "acceptable" as part of the culture and tradition because women are thought of as mere possesions. In parts of Africa female circumcision is practiced so that the women in the community are incapable of getting pleasure from sex. This is meant to discourage women from being disloyal, and is done to girls when they are 6-10 years old so in many cases it leaves the girls traumatized as well as mutilated. You're already on the internet, do some research yourself.

Sexism Within the Walls of Our Society

Who is in power, in this country, now? White males. As much as you hear about how white men are getting discriminated against, it pales in comparison to the oppresion of minority groups and women. i dont mean to put down white men as a group (a lot of my friends would qualify as members of it), but its true: they're in power at the moment. Don't belive me? who runs the government in this country? or better yet, who runs the corporations who run the government in this country?
anyway, white males are in power, and this society was built by white men for white men. This isn't saying that the whole society was built with racist and/or sexist intentions. Its simply saying that those in power create and modify the society to make it what they would call "better". If you look around, most things in our culture are created by and for men, or by men for women in order to get women to be the way men think they should be. example: until very recently, the government only required automobile safety tests to be conducted with male-sized crash dummies, and safety belts weren't adjustable so they didnt fit most women or kids. Its not that the men regulating all this didn't care if women died in car accidents, they just didnt think about it. Another example is that most advertising is targeted towards men (whos got the cash, hey?) and the advertising that is meant to appeal to women is obviouly designed by men. Most advertising that you see that is targeted towards women is for makeup, hair products, clothes, or other products that generally make women more attractive to men. This brings up the important point that so many women have been totally brainwashed by this kind of advertising. Not only do they think they have to take every opportunity possible to make themselves more attractive to men (because they dont think theyre worth anything if theyre not loved by men), but they actually think there's something wrong with the way they would be if they didnt use all these cosmetics and "beauty" products. Great human beings, great women, reduced to lipstick and diet pills to please who? In a society where women are taught that the only way they can be considered "worthwhile" people is if they fit into the image of what men like, it's really not that surprising that so many little girls, and even adolescents or grown-up women just want to be "pretty" when their male counterparts want to be smart, interesting, strong, creative or otherwise fulfilled. There are many, many women who have broken out of the mold and decided to become their own people, but there are many more that still feel insecure without the approval of the men in their life. It's not really that surprising that a lot of these men don't want to give up their power.

How we get this way

Some of the most important years of the socialization process ("the liflong social experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture", or more simply, the process of us learning who and what we are, and are supposed to be through experience) are in childhood. we learn about who we should be friends with, who we must obey, how we are supposed to act in certain situations. first the family, then the school teaches us these things. it has been proven through numerous studies that girls have levels of self-esteem comparable to boys when they are young. then, as they reach adolescence, girls' self-esteem levels fall well below those of boys of the same age. this can be seen as an effect of young girls relizing their place in society. they are shown that they will grow up to be part of an "inferior" group in society. this can be damaging to girls' performance in school or other activities. working much in the same way that racism does, this sexism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. members of a group are taught that they are irreversibly inferior. then they loose self-esteem, confidence and motivation, thus growing up to actually be less educated, less independent, less prepared to deal with the world. of course, discrimination within the system and immediate setbacks (like parents that send a son to college but won't send a daughter, or a business that won't hire a woman for a specific job) play signifigant roles in making women disadvantaged; but the internalization of gender status in women is also a major cause here.

Beauty?

I haven't really bought into the whole beauty thing since middle school. i guess i just told myself that if a guy was gonna like me, i wanted it to be because he really liked who i am and not just the way i look. i wouldnt want to be with a guy that only cared about how i looked anyway. of coures that leads to feeling ugly or not having a boyfriend sometimes, because the ideas of feminine beauty are so deeply ingrained in all of us and in our society, but its worth it. and i like moderation, so dressing up once in a while is ok, but wearing a ton of makeup and high heels like everyday is not. so heres some stuff about the "beauty myth":
Women are taught to judge themselves in terms of their appearance: their beauty. They are taught that they are worth more if they are beautiful, and that beauty is a noble goal to strive for. This causes women to adopt the traits that go along with trying to be beautiful. women learn to be very responsive to men and pay close attention to them because beauty is often defined by sexual attractiveness. so beautiful is what men like. since many of the "ideals" involved in feminine beauty are unattainable for most women, it keeps a lot of people very busy for extended amounts of time. diets, cosmetics, and fashion are all industries that profit from women's quest for beauty. since these industries are making so much money, it is in their interest to promote the beauty myth and constantly make women feel bad enough about their appearances to spend billions of dollars each year trying to "correct" their "inadequecies".

Here are some lyrics from the CRASS album "Penis Envy". I strongly suggest reading them because it is some of the most eloquent feminist poetry i have ever read/heard/seen.

CRASS LYRICS FROM "PENIS ENVY"

if you have something to say and dont have a page of your own, ill gladly publish it for you (yes, even if you disagree with me) so just e-mail it to me.

here are some riot grrl links. go check em out.

WHAT IS RIOT GRRL ANYWAY?
RIOT GRRRL
RIOT GRRL WEB

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page