"Killing ourselves is not subversive": riot grrrl from zine to screen and the commodification of female transgression

Emily Spiers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article draws on material from the riot grrrl archives at New York University’s Fayles Library to examine the culture of ‘zine’ production in US riot grrrl communities during the 1990s. After investigating the relationship between the political issues and aesthetic strategies explored by riot grrrl literary producers, I analyse the points of tension arising within the movement which become illuminated by zines’ revelatory confessional modes, or what Mimi Thi Nguyen has called riot grrrl’s ‘aesthetics of access’. I subsequently enquire after the implications for riot grrrl politics of understanding experiences of oppression and transgressive behaviour as cultural commodities. Finally, I go on to trace the commodification of the transgressive feminist gesture in mainstream popular culture and contemporary US online feminist activism.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-21
JournalWomen: A Cultural Review
Volume26
Issue number1-2
Early online date16 Jul 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Jul 2015

Keywords

  • Riot grrrl
  • Zines
  • Postmodernism
  • Autofiction
  • The Internet
  • Transgression
  • Feminism
  • Popular culture

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