“The Middle of the Night in My House”
Spoken Word by Kathleen Hanna

I’m your worst nightmare come to life
I’m a girl who you can’t shut up
There’s not a gag big enough can handle this mouth
I’m gonna tell everyone what you did to me
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
I was having this dream
Where there was this doctor
And I was on a conveyer belt
And I was going by really really slow
And I’m nine years old
And it’s really tiring
And I’m really sleepy
Sleepy
Sleepy
Sleepy
Sleepy tired
And I’m laying on the conveyor belt
And I’m going by really slow
And there’s this doctor
And he’s looking down at me
And I’m looking up at him
And he’s looking down at me
And I’m looking up at him
And he’s looking down at me
And he inspects
Every single girl as they go by
And we’re on this island
And so it’s not a part of the rest of the real world
It’s separate from the rest of the real world
And because it’s an island
And I’m nine years old
And the only things I’ve learned are off of TV
I think everybody else
Like all of the girls on the conveyor belt
Are gonna be brown
And I’m the only white one
And I’m going by
And I’m going by
And I’m going by
And he looks down
And he inspects them
He inspects them
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
And then finally he comes to me
And he stops
And he looks down
And I’m looking up at him
And he’s looking down at me
And I’m looking up at him
And he’s looking down at me
And he reaches his hand down
And starts touching me
Is this the dream?
Is this the dream?
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
(Male voice: Nothing was happening)
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
Only I wasn’t dreaming
I wasn’t dreaming
I don’t really think I was dreaming
I really think something happened in that house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
But see what if I had a fantasy before that that made it happen
Or what if there was a dream
Or something I saw on TV
What if it really didn’t happen
Then I say something
Then everybody gets accused
(Male voice: Nothing was happening)
What about the fact that I like passive sex?
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
(Male voice: Nothing was happening)
Something was happening!
Why is it that I woke up from the first 12 years of my life with no top on?
(Male voice: Nothing was happening)
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
I am your worst nightmare come to life!
And I’m not gonna shut up
I’m gonna tell everyone
(Male voice: Nothing was happening)
I’m gonna tell everyone
(Male voice: Nothing was happening)
I can sing you a pretty song
(Male voice: Nothing was happening)
I can sing you a pretty song
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
It was the middle of the night in my house
Something did happen
Why would a baby dream of rape?
Why would a baby dream of rape?
Why would a baby dream of rape?

I'm so excited!

I can't believe Kathleen Hanna is performing again!

In December 2010, Kathleen Hanna and former Bikini Kill band mate Kathi Wilcox previewed a performance of their new project The Julie Ruin at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn


who is Julie Ruin?

Julie Ruin is the independent record produced by Kathleen Hanna under the name Julie Ruin in 1997, while taking a break from Bikini Kill. It touches upon feminism, crocheting, aerobics and resisting police abuse. It was mostly produced in Kathleen's apartment in Olympia, Washington. Despite this project mostly being known for the album, Kathleen Hanna started collaborating with her friends Sadie Benning and Johanna Fateman in order to create a live version of Julie Ruin.





** update -- A friend just watched this ^ video and said: "was that fat phobic though?"
I sadly said yes. In order to provoke laughter and illustrate her embarrassment Hanna uses a half naked picture of a fat woman's body passed out. Fat phobia is all around us. Using Violent, humiliating, and fragmented imagery of fat female bodies is not fucking cool. Although Hanna is a feminist rebel grrrl trying to revamp her career, it is still necessary to critique and question her privilege and presence as a white, able-bodied, skinny, cis-gendered female.

( thanks Kyle )

The Riot Grrrl Archives

The Riot Grrrl Collection is an attempt to document the evolution of the Riot Grrrl movement, particularly in the years between 1989 and 1996. Because Riot Grrrl was (and is) both a political and a cultural movement, its output was diverse, including writing, music, performance, film, activism, photography, video, and original art, as well as documentation of activism and performance. This research collection will provide primary resources for scholars who are interested in feminism, punk activism, queer theory, gender theory, DIY culture, and music history.

The primary area of collecting is the personal papers of those involved in the creation of early Riot Grrrl zines, music, and activism. This includes (but is not limited to) correspondence, artwork, journals and notebooks, audio or video recordings, photographs, clippings, and flyers, as well as any source materials relating to the creation of artworks, writings, fanzines, bands, performances or events.

The Fales Riot Grrrl Collection is not just a zine collection, although zines and other non-unique items will be collected to augment research. The collection's primary mandate is to collect unique materials that provide documentation of the creative process of individuals and the chronology of the movement overall.

(Via NYU )


Interview: Kathleen Hanna on The Raincoats and Building an Archive

Is your vinyl collection really awesome?

I do have a good vinyl collection. I think I might just bring some 7” and my computer to DJ though and just go back and forth because I just don’t want to carry 12”. I would just have to bring so many and I’m into 7” right now.

Are you super obsessive about your record collection, too? Is it obsessively archived?

No, I’m a total slob when it comes to stuff like that. I mean, I listen to mp3s on my computer more than anything,

But how long did it take to make your archive for NYU and did you like the process?

It took like 6 months. I mean, I had everything, it was just a matter of organizing it and going through. Bikini Kill broke up in ’98 and it was 2009 or 2008 when I started working on it. So that’s 10 years and I hadn’t looked at any of that stuff. I had my intern Kate help me and sort through everything and I just sat in my office and looked through every piece of paper and had to make decisions. I did a lot of writing that I never showed anybody back then. About what I thought about the scene or what was going on within riot grrrl. That seemed too inflammatory at the time, but now I included all of that. But I’m happy it’s for scholars, not everyone in the world. The fact that the collection is meant to be viewed as a whole, you have to sign a piece of paper saying you’re not going to put it on the internet, you can’t go in there with chocolate or BBQ sauce all over your hands.

It’s interesting that you say you want scholars to see it.

I mean I’ve been in that same position too, like even in the 90’s. We were all reading bell hooks and her whole thing was being this super smart interesting intellectual who wrote books that most anyone could understand. And I think that we learned a lot from her. And it was like, How do I turn this into a punk song? And for us, that really addressed the question of theory versus practice. That was how we bridged that gap and how we answered those questions for ourselves. And you know, my sister and me were the first generation in my family to like, go to and finish college. So I always felt like it was like my duty to make sure that people who didn’t necessarily get to go to college, which was an amazing experience for me and I always felt lucky I got to go, that I could share. And not to dumb them down, but to put them out there for people that weren’t academics. Just because you’re not an academic doesn’t mean you’re a dumbass.

via fader mag

a new generation for feminsim

Today I wore a sweater to school that had the f-word on it.





I thought I would get quite the beating from my peers, and I was totally wrong. And kind of disappointed! Which sounds horrible (it's a good thing that I can be openly feminist at school) but I guess I'm just bored. What was so great about dressing up in middle school was when people got really confused and sometimes even angry and had the most entertaining responses, but now a lot of them think they're supposed to like my outfits because some magazine does, and as a result, I am never challenged. The best was when people found out about this blog, and said things like, "Wow, I would not have guessed you care about fashion." Which I loved -- I don't want to look like someone who cares about fashion. Now everything is justified by the attention this blog receives, the same way I dislike the logo placement on my Miu Miu collar, as if it makes the oddness somehow okay. My goal for this school year was to wear outfits that confuse the people I'm surrounded by every day, challenge beauty ideals...I know it's cheesy to post inspiration quotes, but these are not the kind you will see pasted onto a photo of a sunset and tumbled:

"I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colorful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you're looking at is something totally opposite. It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It's more challenging to look at the other side." -- Cindy Sherman

"I know when I first started, I said things like, 'It's really great to be beautiful and powerful and sexy,' and I take a little bit of that back now. What I was saying was that you don't have to look a certain way or have a certain hairstyle to be a feminist; that just because a girl wears lipstick that doesn't mean she's not a feminist. But now I realize that I wasn't really challenging the standard of beauty. A friend said to me, 'Why is it so subversive to be beautiful in the traditional sense? I think it's much more subversive to create your own form of beauty and to set your own standards.' She's right." -- Kathleen Hanna

Speaking of Kathleen Hanna, this sweater is actually courtesy of her! It was made and given to her by Jim Drain and Elyse Allen and the label says Happy Banana. I had breakfast with her and my pal Wendy when I was in New York and it was definitely a highlight of my Fashion Week, even though it was not actually a part of Fashion Week and we hardly talked about fashion. We talked a bit about the politics of it though, and when I mentioned the kinds of things that are, like, really really important to the Internet at this time of year (seat placements, who got shot by which street style photographers, more stupidity) Kathleen said, "Who cares? People are dying," so quick, in one breath, and it was like...duh! I mean, seriously, what a wonderful thing to hear and mindset to get in during a time I have such a love/hate relationship with.



Via TAVI's blog

Riot Grrrl Manifesto

BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways. BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other’s work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each other. BECAUSE we must take over the means of production in order to create our own moanings. BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to our girlfriends-politics-real lives is essential if we are gonna figure out how we are doing impacts, reflects, perpetuates, or DISRUPTS the status quo. BECAUSE we recognize fantasies of Instant Macho Gun Revolution as impractical lies meant to keep us simply dreaming instead of becoming our dreams AND THUS seek to create revolution in our own lives every single day by envisioning and creating alternatives to the bullshit christian capitalist way of doing things. BECAUSE we want and need to encourage and be encouraged in the face of all our own insecurities, in the face of beergutboyrock that tells us we can’t play our instruments, in the face of “authorities” who say our bands/zines/etc are the worst in the US and…. BECAUSE we don’t wanna assimilate to someone else’s (boy) standards of what is or isn’t BECAUSE we are unwilling to falter under claims that we are reactionary “reverse sexists” AND NOT THE TRUEPUNKROCKSOULCRUSADERS THAT WE KNOW we really are BECAUSE we know that life is much more than physical survival and are patently aware that the punk rock “you can do anything” idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which seeks to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours. BECAUSE we are interested in creating non-heirarchical ways of being AND making music, friends, and scenes based on communication + understanding, instead of competition + good/bad categorizations BECAUSE doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community that we need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism, able-bodieism, ageism, speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-semitism and heterosexism figures in our own lives. BECAUSE we see fostering and supporting girl scenes and girl artists of all kinds as integral to this process. BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal as sharing information and staying alive, instead of making profits of being cool according to traditional standards. BECAUSE we are angry at a society that tells us Girl=Dumb, Girl=Bad, Girl=Weak BECAUSE we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or turned against us via the internalization of sexism as witnessed in girl/girl jealousism and self defeating girltype behaviors BECAUSE I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real.

"The Riot Grrrl Movement began in the early 1990s by Washington State band Bikini Kill and lead singer Kathleen Hanna.The riot grrrl manifesto was published 1991 in the BIKINI KILL ZINE 2"

Rebel Girl: Kathleen Hanna on Archiving Riot Grrrl, Tearing Down Idols, and Awkward Turtles