In the new issue of BUST, there is an interview with Kathleen Hanna by Kim Gordon. Being the die-hard Riot Grrrl I will always be, I immediately read it when it arrived at my home. Hanna really has the amazing ability to always address whatever the underlying pivotal issues of the time are. There are a few things she said that I feel have been sorely missing from the discussion in some Feminist camps. Quotes that really “spoke to me” are:

“…And to see [that language] become the bars of a new cage was really frustrating and I felt like I couldn’t talk about it because it would be fodder for the people who talked about “political correctness.”

“Riot Grrrl was disintegrating. There were just a lot of white girls fighting about who was more or less racist, and it was gross.” (YUP, sat through a bunch of that)
and
“There were also some girls in the scene who were using language about sexual assault in ways that were reprehensible-saying that somebody bumping into them at a show was assault.”

I think Hanna’s statements are incredibly important especially as there is new attention being paid to the Riot Grrrl movement and a new resurgence in Feminist and social justice ideas. As someone who has been a part of these movements since they were 13(I’m so kool), I am HIGHLY critical of what I feel is the overtly limiting and judgmental tone of aspects of Riot Grrrl, Feminism and social justice groups. Hanna’s words ring true to me, just recently as a result of more and more projects being done about Riot Grrrl, I have come in contact with many people I knew in past Riot Grrrl work. It’s bummed me out to find women who share the same motivations and ideals as myself, whom I cannot have a conversation with, without what seems to me as misunderstanding, anger or aggression. I lament, what seems, sometimes, as Riot Grrrl turning into a bunch of “tsk-tsk,” finger wagging at the use of the “wrong” words or images. I have felt the alienation Hanna describes. It’s good though, because it has definitely pushed me to be more active and vocal in defining what Feminism and Riot Grrrl are to me.

I joke with my friends, that if I hear someone use certain terms, I am almost 100% sure they will think I’m an asshole. Terms like:”intersectionality,” “ally,” “cisgendered,” “POC,” “womanist,” “___-shaming,” “cultural appropriation,” “triggering,” “safe space” etc.

These words make my body tense, These words make me cautious. They make me disingenuous. They do NOT make me any less of a sexist/racist “asshole.”

Why or how do I feel I can predict this? To me these words very much represent group-think and quit frankly make the individual using them very predictable. Don’t get me wrong, I DO get along with people that use these words, sometimes I even use them. I identify as extremely liberal, if not radically so, however it greatly concerns me that aspects of this culture seem quit hostile to any type of dissent. I understand why, as Hanna mentions, the other side is so terrible so disgusting, what Liberal wants to even risk being labeled a misogynist? a racist? I hardly if ever use the term “politically correct” I don’t like it, I don’t feel it’s accurate or genuine. When I’ve thought to use it, I’ve felt like I wasn’t using it correctly. I don’t feel I really know what it means. Hanna mentions in the article that is was a term created to discredit liberals and it has always seemed as such. Who wants to be on the side of that? I was lucky to encounter the word “academic” as what I feel more accurately describes the terms and ideas I feel can be so limiting in the Feminist movement.

I have been on both sides of the “Academic” or “Politically Correct” coin, I have been the chastised and the chastiser. One time I was chastised for being a bad white person… ooooook more than once. To my defense, I have been chastised from individuals of all races, genders, ages, and political beliefs. My friends attribute it to the variety of situations in which I place myself, NOT on my horrible personality. During a conference I was part of organizing in Philly in 1997, I was creating a sign-up sheet or flier or something, and I wrote the word “boobies” on it. A woman at the conference became very upset at my use of such a disrespectful term. Yeah that happened. When I was in college a comic I had drawn was not allowed in the student paper because it was believed that it insinuated if an individual masturbates they are also a pedophile. The people who ran the paper thought because I was making fun of a gross guy who lived in my building in NYC, by calling him a pedophile and showing him masturbating in one scene, that college students who read it and where themselves masturbators would be so traumatized…..I really don’t know what the fuck. I have had the notable life experience of having my specific behavior written on a list of things white people do that is racist. The behavior in question was requiring “proof” from people of color when they say they have experienced racism. Look, I don’t know where you grew up, but if I DON’T KNOW YOU, I’m not believing a word you tell me about a situation I did NOT experience myself. That’s called gossip, not racial justice. In terms of my own “justice” work: I’ve “called out” an independent, female filmmaker for not being sensitive to working class issues, I destroyed a 15 foot enormous snow penis on my college campus(I stand by this one till the day I die), I chastised BUST magazine for being “racist,”(until thank god my sister was like, “you are an idiot”). Really at what point does political righteousness become just hating?

As much as we might not want to face it, we are in a time when racism and sexism are subjective. Ok, Redlining is not subjective, the incarceration rate of black men is not subjective, the health differences between white and black women are not subjective, etc. BUT, at the same time, Hermain Cain and I are never going to agree on what is and is not racist. Over the years, I have seen very confusing things. I have read take-downs of Tina Fey for being un-feminist, TINA FEY! I have seen support of strippers while fashion magazines are deemed unacceptable. I have seen support for the right to be as unhealthy as one wants and at the same time the chastising of dieting. My sister chastised me for putting a Nicky Da B video on my blog after she watched the Misinformation documentary on the representation of women in society. Nicky Da B is an out queer rapper and has a 300 lb woman twerking in the video I posted. This to me equals not sexist, but to her at that time it was, so who is to say. I’ve seen people use political righteousness or concern for political justice as a way to create cool clique’s to make themselves feel better and exclude others. I’ve seen personal issues or quit frankly “mean girl” behavior masked as social justice concerns.
I’ve been to workshops on social justice issues run by people who are “authorities” on the issue and felt they were as ignorant as I am very sure they have felt I am. I bristle when I hear a guy use the term “crazy bitch” but unfortunately there have been times when I have had the opportunity to meet the “crazy” bitches in question and let’s just say they have put my crazy to shame. One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn about the subjectivity of Feminism is that “sometimes the bitch really IS crazy.”

I feel like this is important because there is a great deal of entitlement and privilege in much of this judgmental-ness. It is also extremely exclusionary to create communities where everyone uses the same words. We have to accept the subjective nature of these ideas. I HAVE to believe someone doesn’t need a college degree to be a decent person. I don’t ever want to feel like a character in an Arthur Miller play when I am working for social justice. I do however, wonder exactly when I became the clueless old, white, hippy dude who always stands up in political workshops saying things like, “We are ALL human, can’t we ALL just get along???! IM POST RACIAL, I DONT SEE SKIN COLOR” while everyone rolls their eyes at his cluelessness.