Felicity Linville
Punk music is a way in which youth can tackle political subjects in a way that makes sense to them. I think punk challenges the power structures and dynamics of society and create an environment for social change. In her piece “Its (Not) a White World: Looking for Race in Punk” Mimi Nguyen says proposes action from a racial perspective “You (and I mean everybody now) can be accountable to your social location. Interrogate and historicize your place in society, punk, whatever, and be aware of how you talk about race, gender, sexuality – it’s political… Recognize power in all its forms, how it operates.” She addresses how people can take a stance in punk by addressing issues of race and to not ignore it, not seeing color is a big negative in her work. Ednie Kaeh Garrison in her piece “U.S. Feminism-Grrrl Style! Youth (Sub)Cultures and the Technologies of the Third Wave” addresses feminist political subjects and uses the Riot Grrrl movement as a tool to look at how they provided spaces for youth centered conversations about politics. She says it is important to “Recogniz[e] youth (sub)cultures as political spaces and refusing to separate political consciousness from subcultural formations.” Riot Grrrl is built around the idea that young girls are seen in society as not caring about being political and being loud and countering that. They gave a medium in which girls could have a safe space in the male dominated punk sphere and use that to talk about the power structures of society. Both Nguyen and Garrison encourage punk as a way for social change through a critique of the racism, feminism power structures, and other social issues.
Two songs I want to bring to the table that enhance the most important aspects of these readings are Improvised Weapons by War on Women and Feel by SATE. War on Women is a strong feminist hardcore punk band whose songs attack sexism and institutionalized patriarchy. SATE is a beautiful black woman making punk music, she is a part of the Sistas Grrrl Riot movement. The movement was formed back in the 90s when black girls felt they didn’t fit into the Riot Grrrl movement because it was too white and wanted to have a space for punk women of color.
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