I also found that punks left-leaning ideologies mean punks are very prone to movements of equality. Which is why there is such a strong feminist movement in punk music. Punk started off like many other things as a sort of “boys club.” The bands were all male, songs were written for men, and the culture was very centered around men. Before long the girl punks eventually got pretty fed-up with it. It wasn’t long before there were girl bands calling themselves Riot Grrrls and fanzines centered around women’s issues. Not only has feminism changed punk rock, but punk rock has changed feminism.
At the beginning of punk rock it was like most things were in the 70's. Completely run by, and for, men. Songs were about partying and getting laid. Guys took over the dance floor with violent moshing and pushed the girls to the back. Often times, girls would get told that they weren’t real punks for seemingly no reason other than they were girls. That diminished their ability to be punk in the eyes of many male punks.
So it wasn’t long until the girl punks did what punks do, and got angry about it. Girls started their own fanzines about being a girl in the punk scene. Some of these forward-minded girls even lead bands like X-ray Spex, way before feminism was even a major movement in punk. It wasn’t until the 90's that feminism really got big in the punk scene. When Kathleen Hanna started a Zine dedicated to feminism called Riot grrrl. Soon after, Kathleen started a band called Bikini Kill that sang about feminist issues from sexual assault, domestic abuse, and the empowerment of women, especially in the punk scene.
Their music motivated change.
At the beginning of punk rock it was like most things were in the 70's. Completely run by, and for, men. Songs were about partying and getting laid. Guys took over the dance floor with violent moshing and pushed the girls to the back. Often times, girls would get told that they weren’t real punks for seemingly no reason other than they were girls. That diminished their ability to be punk in the eyes of many male punks.
So it wasn’t long until the girl punks did what punks do, and got angry about it. Girls started their own fanzines about being a girl in the punk scene. Some of these forward-minded girls even lead bands like X-ray Spex, way before feminism was even a major movement in punk. It wasn’t until the 90's that feminism really got big in the punk scene. When Kathleen Hanna started a Zine dedicated to feminism called Riot grrrl. Soon after, Kathleen started a band called Bikini Kill that sang about feminist issues from sexual assault, domestic abuse, and the empowerment of women, especially in the punk scene.
Their music motivated change.
The article from Dissent, a left-wing political and cultural centered magazine, called "Why Feminism Needs Punk" states that not only was feminism an influential movement in punk, but that punk was actually beneficial to the feminist movement. Punk Rock does a good job of empowering women. Punk shows girls they can stand up and scream. They can dance to the music they like, and that nobody can tell them that they aren’t real or important just because of their gender. In the style of punk rock, of course, these girls weren’t quiet about their movement at all.
They incited action with their lyrics as can be seen in the song “Double Dare Ya” by a band called Bikini Kill.
“Hey girlfriend
I got a proposition goes something like this:
Dare ya to do what you want
Dare ya to be who you will
Dare ya to cry right out loud
"You get so emotional baby.""
Punk rock without feminism wouldn’t be the politically charged, intelligent, underground scene that it is today, and feminism without punk rock may have never become popularized with the young, radical generation of women that have made it what it is today. There is no way third wave feminism would have gotten the kind of attention it did, or had the same effect, if it weren’t for the Riot grrrl movement in punk rock. Their music motivated change.