Unlike Barbie (no shade) we have a real feminist icon in our midst who is creating and connecting and better than ever.
Kathleen Hanna announced her new book Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk is coming out May 14, 2024! I truly cannot wait and you can pre-order it! (Please do so the publishing industry robots know we want more feminist icons to write memoirs!)
Some of my favorite memoirs are written in the author’s 40s-50s. So much life already lived but also unfinished. The “melder” years where you’re not yet an elder but no longer a young adult. The lunchtime of life memoir of both Dolly Rebecca Parton and Brandi Marie Carlile made me fall deeply in love with them, but I’ve been in love with Kathleen Hanna my entire adult life.
Kathleen Hanna is many things including the lead singer of Bikini Kill, one of the primary bands associated with the Riot Grrrl movement in the 90s. In addition to the punk rock shows they played, they distributed a lot of zines so folks could take them home and share ideas. The internet really didn’t pick up steam until the very late 90s/early 2000s so this was a powerful analog method of connection. (I’ve been high key thinking about adding zines to my next aerobics tour.)
So many people were liberated in their minds through the work and art of that movement, but Kathleen’s influence is beyond any one band!
Kathleen Hanna has changed my life simply by existing and taking creative risks over and over again. I was a little too young for the Riot Grrrl movement when it was happening in the 90s. I’m like little sister of Riot Grrrl and have spent the past 25 years playing catch-up by experiencing their art.
My first Aerobics Video 4 Pack series has Bikini Kill and Le Tigre in it thanks to their generosity, and I call that creation “Riot Grrrl cross genre aerobics art.”
I am SO GRATEFUL the Goddess sat me next to Lauren, the person who helped manage their licensing at a Shabbat dinner in Los Angeles when I was beginning the project and she agreed to music supervise my aerobics video!
My friend Nick Powers said, “Kathleen Hanna sounds better than ever now.” I could not agree more! Listen to some of the shaky cell phone videos of the recent Le Tigre World Tour! Her voice has a resonance I haven’t heard before!
If you’re new to Kathleen Hanna I suggest starting with her music. All of it is rooted in feminist empowerment and speaking truth to pseudo power. (And for those of you who felt empowered by the Barbie movie I just think Kathleen Hanna has so much MORE for you that is deeper and not corporate.)
My personal favorite of her music projects is Le Tigre, if you like power pop you will love it. Listen to each album all the way through starting with their self-titled debut, pick your favorites and DANCE! And shout along! I love to scream along to Dyke March 2001 when I’m particularly gobsmacked about the world today.
If you like punk you will truly love Bikini Kill and I would be shocked if you like punk that you haven’t heard of this seminal band. If there was a time travel thing I could do I would totally travel to a Bikini Kill show in San Francisco in the 90s. To be a Dyke in the 90s! What a time!
I came out in the 90s but was too young to ever see Bikini Kill during that era and I got to see them in 2019 on their tour! Special memory! I loved seeing that the band had water bottles and stayed hydrated during that show. Self care is punk in a world that wants you dead!
The Julie Ruin is also an amazing project and their song Stay Monkey has a special place in my heart. One of the great loves of my life surprised me by gifting me their Julie Ruin cd on a hotel bed after I casually mentioned I hadn’t listened to the album before. I have given away most of my cds (genuinely regret that given the state of the world and the constant shifting of our access to media) but I still have that Julie Ruin cd!
The next and easiest way to learn more about Kathleen Hanna is the documentary The Punk Singer. (You can rent it for a very worth it 3.59 on the internets.) Another feminist art hero of mine is Sini Anderson (of Sister Spit fame) who directed it. It’s SOOOOO GOOD. Kathleen had a period where she wasn’t in public much because she was experiencing Lyme disease. It’s totally okay to take time to shift focus and when your body is demanding your full attention–listen. (A few years ago I wrote a post about queers and Lyme disease you might find valuable.)
I want to say how GRATEFUL I am that Kathleen is so verdant now after Lyme disease has taken so many from us already. (RIP Leslie Feinberg.) We don’t know how long we get to co-create on the Earth plane with the people we love and admire.
I got big mad when Bikini Kill posted pleas for their concert goers to wear masks in summer of 2021 and then Kathleen and other band members got covid anyway. My heroes and favorite artists are so one of a kind wonderful that when they get covid I get anxious that like beloved Céline they might not be able to perform anymore.
I hope that everyone who has experienced that vascular illness takes their recovery seriously and starts a protocol that includes CoQ10. (With supplements it always matters the source since they are unregulated, look for NSF certified and third party testing!)
Okay I’m done being a bossy Capricorn with a Virgo rising who wants to inspire you to greater health choices! I truly care about your well-being holistically and knowing about Kathleen Hanna has improved my life and I hope you’ll explore the art she has to offer!
P.S. She also sells cute tee shirts to help women in Togo, West Africa access education! And she has a new beautiful website KathleenHannaOfficial dot com!
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