Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

[dina.hornreich AT gmail.com]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/07/kathleen.hanna.documentary/

Excerpt:

CNN: Is the '90s spirit of music and politics still alive for women in music today?

Hanna: I think it's not as overtly political. We were really pretty militant and obvious and didactic, both in Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. A lot of female performers, the way they're being political, is really wearing those influences on their sleeves, and those other influences are other female artists. It doesn't sound that radical, but when I was making music, you didn't even want to say another woman's name, because you didn't want to be compared to them. Women didn't want to be on the stage with other women because they didn't want their bodies to be compared. They didn't want another female act opening for them because of this weird competitive and tokenistic attitude. So to see these bands that are so obviously influenced by the Raincoats and Bratmobile and being like, "I love that" and not hiding it, to me that's kind of a cool political statement in its own. Maybe I'm overly optimistic.