Girl or Grrrl?

I saw Kathleen Hanna.

A couple of weeks ago Kathleen was out here with The Julie Ruin. I've wanted to see Kathleen since I was about 15 and came upon the entire Riot Grrrl scene. It was well and truly over by this stage. In fact I was in Kindergarten when Bikini Kill formed and not even in my teens when they called it quits. But as many young women have discovered since that time the ethos is still incredibly relevant and I often lamented the fact that I had "missed that golden era" where people yelled "girls to the front" at shows and there were women active in the scene that you could identify with.

Still over the years I have often identified myself as a riot girl. Did you notice the spelling? It's not a mistake and here's why:

I identify with and support the idea behind the Riot Grrrl movement, I grew up listening to punk rock and only started to feel excluded by the scene when it became obvious there were gaping holes of issues that weren't being addressed and funnily enough these were all issues that women face in our society. Now, you could argue that the men in these bands don't feel like it's their right to discuss these things and sure, perhaps it would be better to seek out women who are doing that themselves and invite them to play with them. But this doesn't stop them from speaking out on other issues of prejudice or persecution that they themselves don't necessarily face (and thank goodness it doesn't) so this doesn't really explain it.

Don't get me wrong, there was a lot wrong with the Riot Grrrl scene as well, for starters it wasn't particularly intersectional or inclusionary, at least not from what I read (I wasn't there, remember).

I'm getting off topic however. I identified as a riot girl as I identified with the ethos. However, I have continually used the "traditional" spelling because to me personally it made more sense.

Grrrl, for me identifies as a few specific things. It relates specifically to those bands and women involved in the Riot Grrrl scene in the 1990's (for which I was way too young), it relates to women who identify as being something a-typical to the usual "girl", as used by some members of the LGBTIQ community and while I'm a staunch supporter, I identify as a straight, cis female (with all the privilege that entails) and so this didn't seem right to me.

Finally, I don't believe that the word "girl" is in any way an insult. It is often used as a slur, to be insulting or infer naïveté. I was never taught that there was anything wrong with being a girl, so I have no problem owning my girlhood, even as a woman. As such I want to see the word girl used more, in positive ways, in ways that imply strength, intelligence, creativity and compassion.

I'll leave you with something that sums up how I came to take pride in the label 'girl'.

When I was younger my dad played AFL which meant my family often went to the football. At one of these games my mum and I were sitting in front of a group of rowdy guys. At one point, they were heckling, as you do at the footy, and one of them yelled out "you kick like a girl".

My mum turned around slowly, looked the guy dead in the eye and said quite calmly "is that supposed to be an insult?"

He didn't say anything and I can guarantee he never used that line again.