Another thought after reading it again...editors and journalists tend to
like stories with an angle that gets people's attention, so perhaps this was
Kimberly Chun's way to get some press for a couple of her favorite new
bands, T.I.T.S. and 16 Bitch Pileup, in a companion piece to her very
interesting Erase Errata article. Pity we end up with a rather glib, silly
setup at the start...oh yeah, Sleater-Kinney, Le Tigre, and Destiny's Child
have so much in common, don't they?
But I suspect the author's intentions were honorable, but twisted by the
notion that you have to have some kind of bold, sweeping thesis to stimulate
arguments on the letters page and therefore render the article worth
writing.
[This story is spin I'd say. Le Tigre are just on hiatus. And there are
more girls in bands now than ever.]