typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)
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- From: Dina Hornreich <hornreichdina AT gmail.com>
- To: typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: [TypicalGirls] Greetings from Northampton, MA!
- Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2024 16:24:21 -0500
Hey TGers!
I've landed in Northampton, MA in time to ring in 2024! I'm working a book to talk about this list and the who/what/why/how of it all. It seems important for me to do this, now more than before.
The project is called: "Not another marketing ploy: Punk/indie rock’s lost girls & troubled boys"
And here's a taste of my introduction:
=================================================================================
Punk/indie rock was the first cultural movement to really embrace ugliness. It was the “wastebasket” for depositing all that which was humiliatingly unpalatable by sanctioning our messy, awkward, raw, provocative, and often unmarketable quasi-dysphoric identities, expressions, and awarenesses. Being painfully human became overtly embarrassing in a quasi-shareable way – and that is probably why we loved it so much!
Providing an outlet to validate certain uncomfortable feelings that are a natural part of human lifespan development is often a process more readily discarded and ignored by the displays of shiny, artificial, slick commercially manufactured products – including pop culture’s mass produced storytelling which favors a “mythical norm” bias (cf: Audre Lorde). Nowadays, this dichotomy doesn’t exist in the same ways; but our media ecologies are evolving in ways that expose the very nuggets that reinforces this nagging feeling that fundamentals of punk/indie rock ideologies remain extremely and increasingly pertinent.
In fact, as we are facing crises not previously anticipated in this evolving “metaversal” (i.e. techno-social) reality, it seems crucial that we begin to revisit the DIY era(s) of punk/indie’s vital iconoclasm and its exposure to ideas and personalities that have been dismissed, pathologized, even criminalized for far too long. In other words, it minimally reveals the shortcomings in our past efforts to promote healthy lifestyles as consumers of mass media and popular culture. “Buyer beware” was just never enough.
In particular, the role of punk/indie rock in sex and gender activism continues to be most irresistible as punk/indie remains more radical than mainstream gay culture. While the work of the successive waves of activism that are woven throughout Feminist/Queer theories and practices have been historically subject to excruciatingly harsh speculation, the present generational iterations (“digital natives” and “gen alpha” alike) seem unequivocally intolerant of antiquated, rigid, and prescriptive sex & gender norms, roles, constructs, and socialization.
These ongoing obstacles are clear cut manifestations of our justified backlash to gender essentialism as we continue to suffer from the various manifestations of toxic masculinity which only magnifies the oppressive stigmatization of feminine traits surrounding the “touchy-feely” and “artsy-fartsy” girly junk. In other words, it portrays our embarrassingly human struggles while grappling with our culturally sanctioned manifestations of greed, violence, and misogyny glorifying inequitable power dynamics as perpetuated by oppressive leadership styles.
Starting in the 1970s, punk/indie rock offered a litany of well-rounded and noteworthy examples from across the sex and gender spectra. In the 1990s, we especially experienced contributions from unique activist efforts in the forms of “riot grrrl” and “queercore” subcultural movements (despite the cursory impression that they had fallen apart before they could truly take shape). As we start to recover during the endemic chapter of COVID, it seems pertinent to embrace all of these manifestations in order to piece together a more representative composite.
Since I firmly believe that the “medium is the lesson,” it seems appropriate to suggest that even punk/indie icons can and often do become “role models.” Albeit, this is typically embraced with extreme reluctance – sometimes to the point of painfully unwatchable self-deprecation (just to drive their point home even further). Because it is clear that what we consume shapes how we develop and grow in our minds, bodies, and spirits; this notion becomes a tremendous responsibility for artists to assume when creating their craft which invites more deliberation in the ideation and experimentation phases. And in punk/indie, everything seemed to be simultaneously both personally and politically charged for extra potency and vitriol which means intentionality doesn’t always come first.
As we are now in the 2020s, it seems important to ask ourselves about the long-term impact of punk/indie rock’s words, music, and ethos. As we continue to seek better ways for supporting DEI+ efforts in order to transcend performative allyship, this line of inquiry requires calling out the flaws in the movement and clearly offers important insight. In order to finally curb our historic tendencies for dismissing our naturally divergent “ugly” identities (and other “atypical” variations), we need to more seriously embrace these intriguing representations as they continue to offer crucial validation for our understandably quasi-dysphoric identities, expressions, and awarenesses. In other words, it’s time to stop blaming the victims for adopting avoidance tactics in response to toxic masculinity.
=================================================================================
I've landed in Northampton, MA in time to ring in 2024! I'm working a book to talk about this list and the who/what/why/how of it all. It seems important for me to do this, now more than before.
The project is called: "Not another marketing ploy: Punk/indie rock’s lost girls & troubled boys"
And here's a taste of my introduction:
=================================================================================
Punk/indie rock was the first cultural movement to really embrace ugliness. It was the “wastebasket” for depositing all that which was humiliatingly unpalatable by sanctioning our messy, awkward, raw, provocative, and often unmarketable quasi-dysphoric identities, expressions, and awarenesses. Being painfully human became overtly embarrassing in a quasi-shareable way – and that is probably why we loved it so much!
Providing an outlet to validate certain uncomfortable feelings that are a natural part of human lifespan development is often a process more readily discarded and ignored by the displays of shiny, artificial, slick commercially manufactured products – including pop culture’s mass produced storytelling which favors a “mythical norm” bias (cf: Audre Lorde). Nowadays, this dichotomy doesn’t exist in the same ways; but our media ecologies are evolving in ways that expose the very nuggets that reinforces this nagging feeling that fundamentals of punk/indie rock ideologies remain extremely and increasingly pertinent.
In fact, as we are facing crises not previously anticipated in this evolving “metaversal” (i.e. techno-social) reality, it seems crucial that we begin to revisit the DIY era(s) of punk/indie’s vital iconoclasm and its exposure to ideas and personalities that have been dismissed, pathologized, even criminalized for far too long. In other words, it minimally reveals the shortcomings in our past efforts to promote healthy lifestyles as consumers of mass media and popular culture. “Buyer beware” was just never enough.
In particular, the role of punk/indie rock in sex and gender activism continues to be most irresistible as punk/indie remains more radical than mainstream gay culture. While the work of the successive waves of activism that are woven throughout Feminist/Queer theories and practices have been historically subject to excruciatingly harsh speculation, the present generational iterations (“digital natives” and “gen alpha” alike) seem unequivocally intolerant of antiquated, rigid, and prescriptive sex & gender norms, roles, constructs, and socialization.
These ongoing obstacles are clear cut manifestations of our justified backlash to gender essentialism as we continue to suffer from the various manifestations of toxic masculinity which only magnifies the oppressive stigmatization of feminine traits surrounding the “touchy-feely” and “artsy-fartsy” girly junk. In other words, it portrays our embarrassingly human struggles while grappling with our culturally sanctioned manifestations of greed, violence, and misogyny glorifying inequitable power dynamics as perpetuated by oppressive leadership styles.
Starting in the 1970s, punk/indie rock offered a litany of well-rounded and noteworthy examples from across the sex and gender spectra. In the 1990s, we especially experienced contributions from unique activist efforts in the forms of “riot grrrl” and “queercore” subcultural movements (despite the cursory impression that they had fallen apart before they could truly take shape). As we start to recover during the endemic chapter of COVID, it seems pertinent to embrace all of these manifestations in order to piece together a more representative composite.
Since I firmly believe that the “medium is the lesson,” it seems appropriate to suggest that even punk/indie icons can and often do become “role models.” Albeit, this is typically embraced with extreme reluctance – sometimes to the point of painfully unwatchable self-deprecation (just to drive their point home even further). Because it is clear that what we consume shapes how we develop and grow in our minds, bodies, and spirits; this notion becomes a tremendous responsibility for artists to assume when creating their craft which invites more deliberation in the ideation and experimentation phases. And in punk/indie, everything seemed to be simultaneously both personally and politically charged for extra potency and vitriol which means intentionality doesn’t always come first.
As we are now in the 2020s, it seems important to ask ourselves about the long-term impact of punk/indie rock’s words, music, and ethos. As we continue to seek better ways for supporting DEI+ efforts in order to transcend performative allyship, this line of inquiry requires calling out the flaws in the movement and clearly offers important insight. In order to finally curb our historic tendencies for dismissing our naturally divergent “ugly” identities (and other “atypical” variations), we need to more seriously embrace these intriguing representations as they continue to offer crucial validation for our understandably quasi-dysphoric identities, expressions, and awarenesses. In other words, it’s time to stop blaming the victims for adopting avoidance tactics in response to toxic masculinity.
=================================================================================
I was hoping to invoke something more inclusive of you all... given all your accomplishments as the membership is more impressive than the founder/moderator!
Just letting you know, this list is still alive!
Be well... (fer reals).
-D
Dina L. Hornreich, MS & MLIS (she/they)
Selected Writing:
413-315-0485
37 Bridge Street #1144, Northampton, MA 01060
Mission: Building a Conceptual Age Taskforce of nonviolent communicators who are
- Advocating for for the mindful implementation of Meta-Literacy skill sets
- Facilitating the effective, appropriate, and ethical usage of information, media, and technology (IMT) artefacts
- Promoting a more informed, engaged, and wise citizenry
Vision: The Medium is the Lesson! Stopping toxic technology from polluting our information landscapes and the social epidemics of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation creating barriers to personal & communal achievement, growth, and lifelong success (as the endemic chapter of COVID-19 has begun).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~An informed, engaged, and wise citizenry: The emerging role for librarians as meta-literacy counselors (conference paper presented at The Library Collective's LibCon 2021)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If I am not for myself, who is?
If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when?" - Rabbi Hillel
- [TypicalGirls] Greetings from Northampton, MA!, Dina Hornreich, 02/09/2024
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