On Thursday, October 7th, Paley Library hosted a discussion by Brooklyn-based author Sara Marcus about her book “Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution.” Riot Grrrl was an underground feminist movement based in the early ‘90s punk scene.
During the hour and a half that she spoke, Sara transported the audience back in time to the ‘90s, right to the heart of the Riot Grrrl movement. There were points where it almost felt like it was a band’s show in someone’s dimly lit garage. As Sara accompanied her talk with excerpts of songs from key bands like Bikini Kill and Heavens to Betsy, she swayed and rocked her head to the beat of the music as if she was reliving her own teen years.
“The book came from traveling for five years, talking to people, photocopying their ‘zines,” Sara said. Her interest in the movement also goes all the way back to her high school days. Originally a classical piano player, Sara found herself picking up a bass guitar and learning how to play it in her band Harlot #1. Clearly she had proof when she told the crowd that “Riot Grrrl was all about personal narrative.”
Though it was a movement for change, Riot Grrrl was also a community. Its followers had meetings and played music, but they also discussed issues that were important to them. They wrote their own magazines and distributed them to get the word out as they lived in the pre-internet age.
During her talk, Sara drew a parallel between the Riot Grrrl movement of the past and the current Occupy Wall Street efforts taking place all over the nation. “Riot Grrrl [like Occupy Wall Street] was being derided as being all young people that had no idea what they were talking about,” Sara explained.
It was particularly poignant, as the Occupy Philly protests had just started early that morning. Both groups, though twenty years apart, fought for the minority, the ones with the softest voices. And how? They raised their voices. On the subject, Sara said “If Riot Grrrl had Facebook and Twitter back in the ‘90s, we would have occupied something in six months.” I don’t think there was a single person there that would’ve disagreed.