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seal-lover419 · 4 months ago

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Riot Grrrl connecting to A.O. Scott

An essay I wrote for a school project

For context this is connecting the compilation “The Riot Grrrl collection” by Lisa Darms and an article by A.O. Scott “Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid Of It?” that basically argues that people are scared of reading because it can be uncomfortable

The page numbers in the citations refer to the page in the book “The Riot Grrrl Collection” by Lisa Darms and not the page number of the zine itself

Trigger warning for mentions of rape and (unconsentual) mutilation of female genitalia

How Riot Grrrl connects to A.O. Scott by Xandri (aka seal-lover419)

There shouldn’t be a person on Earth who could read this book cover to cover and not feel uncomfortable or scared for at least one part. The “Riot Grrrl Collection” is a collection of fliers, letters and zines from the Riot Grrrl era put together by Lisa Darms. A big part of Riot Grrrl is discussing topics that are uncomfortable. “The Riot Grrrl Collection” connects to the A.O. Scott article “Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?” because it is the reason why people are scared of reading through all four given examples, race, sexuality, history, and gender.

The first reason is how the zine “Chop Suey Spex”, author unknown, talks about its namesake, a prank pair of glasses that make the users eyes look more like those of Asian descent. They describe the fact that if that brand didn’t produce this product, another one would be “racism filtered through white liberal capitalism”(Chop Suey Spex 315) and go on to call this “Amerikkkana”(Chop Suey Spex 315). This can be uncomfortable to talk about, a lot of people of more privileged backgrounds (i.e. white people) tend to avoid this topic, out of fear of saying something wrong and offending someone. More importantly, it contributes to the fear that people of color still often face today. The author says that products like these remind them that are “fair game for verbal harassment and physical attack”(Chop Suey Spex 315). The second reason is that this book unabashedly talks about sexuality and the history of it. The zine “Girl Girls 3” by Molly Neuman and Allison Wolfe contains an article by Karen Catchpole that describes the punishments given to women, often children for masturbation “like complete removal of the clitoris… and the blistering of the thighs and genitals with hot tongs”(Catchpole 63). Pause and think about that. How did it make you feel? Uncomfortable? Scared? Maybe you crossed your legs and thought something along the lines of protecting the youth from this uncomfortable truth. I did. I felt uncomfortable by the topic in general, I was scared for those girls' overall health and whoever thought that was a good idea’s mental health. I hid this page from my friends when they looked over my shoulder. I thought they weren’t ready, weren’t mature enough, despite being the same age as them, if not younger. This is a great example of the fear of reading. It is a combination of three of the four A.O. Scott’s rationalizations for the fear of reading, gender, sexuality, and history. Gender - the societal humiliation of female pleasure, sexuality - the nature of the cause of the punishment, and history - the fact that this was being endorsed until 1940. The final reason is another concoction, this time of history, race and gender. In the fifth installment of Bamboo Girl, another zine with an unknown author, there is a section with two recommended responses for ignorant questions directed towards women of color, one gentle and one that calls the inquisitor out. When being asked something along the lines of why their features aren't stereotypical for people of their race, the author suggests for the defensive answer, “Because your forefathers raped my foremothers which begat - me”(Bamboo Girl 266). This is in reference to the multiple occurrences of white settlers finding a new place, and immediately believing that everything -including the people- there belong to them, and using them -specifically the woman- as they please. This is an extremely influential and traumatizing repeated phenomenon that created and changed tons of lives. The author’s point of saying this is to shock and make the person who gets this response and the reader uncomfortable, hence being the reason people are afraid of reading.

A.O. Scott’s theory that people are scared of reading because reading can deal with race, sexuality, history, and gender, stated in the article “Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?” is intertwined with “The Riot Grrrl Collection”. This book tackles the racism from white settlers centuries ago, and slightly more subtle racism that is projected through capitalism, sexuality through talking about self exploration, gender through the different and often belittling treatment of woman, and history through the systematic rape of people who are native to places white people seized control of or attempted to do so, and punishments that could make make someone’s skin crawl. Someone could probably take a quote from any page of this book and explain how it could make someone uncomfortable. “The Riot Grrrl Collection” does not try to tread carefully when it comes to others' sensitivity on these topics. Should we be scared of this? Or should we work through our judgements and embrace it for what it is - a riot?

#riot grrrl #radical feminism #essay #essay writing #short essay #riot girl #zines #gender ideology #rapeawareness #female rage #female sex liberation #female sexuality #history #anti colonization #slight rant

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