When most people think of feminist icons, I feel like the first women to come up in conversation are the foremothers who carved our feminine paths for basic human rights, but the women of the modern world who are still fighting to maintain these rights are often overlooked. Kathleen Hanna is my favorite example of such a woman, mainly because she inspired me and piqued my interest in feminism as a teen in the 90s who was really into Bikini Kill and exercising my newfound individuality.
In order to feel like I was a strong person, I kind of based myself in opposition to what I perceived as being Second Wave feminism, which was really ignorant, and based on all of the stereotypes. Like that they have hairy legs and they are anti-sex and so on. And I was like, "I'm a SEXY feminist, and I'm going to wear makeup and blah blah blah." Then, when I actually started delving into the history, I realized that I was playing into stereotypes. --KH
You don't want to start setting up another rule book, like: "This is how you're a feminist. And this is the way you dress. And this is the way you act. And this is the way you protest." It's like, some people protest carrying signs. Some people protest by making activist radical music. Sometimes people try to just make it through a day and not kill themselves, and that's their activism for right then, because that's all they have.
--KH
I know when I first started, I said things like, "It's really great to be beautiful and powerful and sexy," and I take a little bit of that back now. What I was saying was that you don't have look a certain way or have a certain hairstyle to be a feminist; that just because a girl wears lipstick that doesn't mean she's not a feminist. But now I realize that I wasn't really challenging the standard of beauty. A friend said to me, "Why is it so subversive to be beautiful in the traditional sense? I think it's much more subversive to create your own. --KH
This is the second in a series of posts highlighting my favorite feminists during Women's History Month.
The rest of the posts may be found here.
Fuck. Yes. Kathleen Hanna is one of my biggest inspirations, mainly because she is a powerful woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. And I love Bikini Kill.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you regarding feminism/beauty ideals. I think particularly within the feminist movement, there is a misconception of "what a feminist should look like." I've been given shit for this quite a lot, especially since I wear dresses and skirts and lipstick. However, wo(men) who subscribe to this rhetoric miss the point of what feminism truly stands for- celebrating and acknowledging all gender presentations, whatever that may be.
that first picture is amazing... love the glasses!
ReplyDeletexxx
www.ladyalamode.com
Riot Grrl was a huge part of my teenhood - I can still remember showing up in DC for a punk pro-choice percussion protest and seeing BK for the first time, when they didn't even have a demo tape out yet.
ReplyDeleteThe really excellent part about the whole RG thing was that we could all afford to be what we wanted and just explore - and it was okay to have feminist "colleagues" who you didn't put up on pedestals but you learned from all the same. (I still remember some femnist guys being so pissed about KH in the Sonic Youth Bull in the Heather video because it was on MTV and MTV supported a rape culture and therefore they thought KH was tacitly supporting a rape culture. Come on - how high could the pedestal be?) RG was so smart in trying to make it all-inclusive and the media blackout they did because of the Newsweek issue was just so savvy for people with no media training.
Between KH, Corin Tucker and the %#$@ Need, I feel really lucky to have grown up when I did. (Especially The Need - seriously I could not love them more.)
Yes! Awesome post on an awesome lady! A favorite of mine too
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! I'm gonna read up more on her now. I'm glad you're doing these posts!
ReplyDeleteA fantastic post Rachel and some brilliant and inspiring quotes. I need to discover more about this lady
ReplyDeleteThanks for introducing me to Kathleen Hanna. I also find these quotes to be inspiring. I really respect that you included the quote in which she spoke to the prescriptions of what it means to be a feminist or activist.
ReplyDeleteAs a new yorker, i was not down there occupying wall street but i've been on the front lines educating young people for me this is working toward social justice.
Thank you for this post
Thanks for sharing this, I didn't know anything about Kathleen Hanna and I am happy to have found her.
ReplyDelete