5 Reasons You Should Be Listening to Bikini Kill RIGHT NOW

Confession: I didn't get into Bikini Kill until I watched 10 Things I Hate About You. And just a little bit of background to that. Before 10 Things, I was obsessed over being popular, and I was in middle school at the time. Middle school is the worst, right? On top of that, I went to a school where I just knew I didn't belong. I didn't fit in and I was still trying to figure out who I was.

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I was on the basketball team because my mom and I needed some sort of connection. I had a group of friends who mostly talked shit behind my back, mostly about how I wasn't really a fan of N*SYNC (not even joking!). And I was so concerned about myself. I was worried I wasn't fitting in and why couldn't I fit in. Why couldn't I just belong somewhere? I'm sure many went through this in middle school.

But then, that year, 10 Things I Hate About You came out, and first off, Heath Ledger was just (gaga!) amazing! Not only was this movie my feminsit awakening, but it was also my sexual awakening.

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That and Titanic. But this isn't about my sexual awakening.

This is about my FEMINIST AWAKENING.

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If you recall, the main character Kat Statford (played by Julia Stiles), was this mean angry character who had no desire to please anybody or try to fit in for anybody, except herself. And everything just hit me. All of a sudden I had to read what she read (The Bell Jar, Simone De Beauvoir, The Feminine Mystique) and I had to listen to what she listened to....and here we are. One of the bands, they tell Patrick to listen to to appeal to Kat is Bikini Kill.

Of course, I headed to the record store and asked about them, and my world changed forever. If you've never heard of Bikini Kill or if you have never heard their music, here are 5 Reasons You Should Be Listening to them RIGHT NOW!

1. No Apologies for Feminist Ideals

Looking into Bikini Kill and front woman Kathleen Hanna, they started Bikini Kill to fight this feminist revolution. These women in Bikini Kill were/are incredibly smart and are very well knowledged in the feminist movements. At the time they started, the conversation about feminsim was along the lines of "Feminism is dead," and it was shocking to them because this was all they could talk about. They sang about so many issues that girls face that other music and bands ignore or overlook. They talk about oversexualiziation and objectification. IN the music industry! They talk about rape and rape culture. THey talk about girlhood identity. It's amazing! Yes, ladies! There is a band out there, called Bikini Kill, that tells you "You can be whatever woman you want to be, whether that's feminine, Valley High, dyke, butch, girly, queer, anything!" It was revolutionary.

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2. All Girls to the Front

First off, you should definitey check out The Punk Singer on Netflix, which follows the legacy that is Kathleen Hanna. But one of the first things I noticed when I first started really getting into Bikini Kill and who they were was their whole policy of All Girls to the Front. I've been to my share of metal shows and punk rock shows, and it gets pretty violent.

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But there's this sort of camaraderie in the pits. You know, someone falls, you help them up. You don't throw punches. You help a guy out. Well, in all reality, it was kind of started by Bikini Kill, because overall, it was just this mentality that boys are boys and we let them be violent at rock concert. And Kathleen Hanna and Bikini Kill were not having it. Women could not be a part of this culture, because ultimately it was dangerous for them. And fuck that bullshit of, "Toughen up! It's a man's world, so man up!"

This idea that women are not good enough to participate in this exciting culture because they are not manly enough is complete bullshit!

And Bikini Kill agreed. So they spoke to their audience and said, "All girls to the front! Guys, don't be an asshole for once and move to the back." They wanted women to feel safe and enjoy the show and be a part of this awesome revolution. And back then, nobody would even think that something like this should be happening. Pretty punk rock, if you ask me.

3. Kathleen Hanna "made" Nirvana

Okay, so maybe she didn't exactly make Nirvana, but fun little story. Kurt Cobain did not come from this northwestern style of grunge and punk rock. He got his start with Kathleen Hanna in the feminist punk rock movement.

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TRUE STORY! Kurt Cobain was a big feminist, who would sometimes perform in dresses and made it very known that he was a feminist, but it wasn't hip back then as it is now (sort of) so journalists wouldn't report on it. But Hanna and Cobain because close because of Cobain's support for Hanna and Bikini Kill. One day, they were pretty wasted and hanging out together, and Hanna wrote "Kurt smells like teen spirit" on a wall.

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Cobain responded with "God is gay." After than night, Hanna got sober and swore off alcohol for the next six years, while Cobain went on to write "Smells Like Teen Spirit" which is said to have launched Nirvana's road to success as well as start the grunge movement. So, yeah, I kind of contribute the birth of Nirvana and grunge to Kathleen Hanna

4. Riot Grrrl

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Riot Grrrl was a movement started by Kathleen Hanna that was basically this call for action. Women deserve to be treated equally. Women deserve to make their own choices. It's echoed in Bikini Kill's music amazingly, but it didn't stop there. They had zines going out and they would pass them out at their shows. They performed at Washington DC in front of our nation's capital screaming for equality and screaming for pro-choice.

On The Punk Singer, they described their first Riot Grrrl meeting as this simple need for women to get together and talk without feeling threatened by a male's presence. It wasn't a call to be angry with men, but it's definitely a conversationt hat men needed to understand. They had the upper hand in a lot of things, and it's not easy for these girls who are victims of abuse and victims of being misrepresentation that they couldn't talk about it. I've spoken to many men, who really want to be a part of the feminist movement and they even claim themselves to be, but it just sounds like, "Yeah, of course I want equal rights," but that's where it ends. When we start to talk about rape culture and their responsiblities as men, that's where the conversation ends. Riot Grrrl said enough, and let's make a fucking revolution!

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5. Kathleen Hanna

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I've mentioned her so much in this post, but if you're not convinced by now, then maybe Bikini Kill isn't for you. Kathleen Hanna was the sould of Bikini Killa nd the Riot Grrrl movment. She was the sould of me in high school and really getting me to express myself. So many movements that we're only seeing today regarding feminism was initiated by her.