Media's Misinterpretation of Riot Grrrl?

[Kess]

In the 90's media was all over riot grrrl and its highly expressive and explicit nature. Many people saw riot grrrl as a joke and "just a bunch of girls running around in their underwear". What are your thoughts on this and what do you feel should have been done diffrently?

[I DONT NEED YOUR SOCIAL LOVE]

Well in a sense it was inevitable, i mean the media is generally made up of an array of bigots. They can twist anything they want and the sad part of it is that the people will listen. The fact was that at the time there was a large amount of people that believed that a grrrl should not be offensive and so forth. The Riot grrrl movement was so radical, i mean a bunch of badass chicks going against tradition. People cannot handle anything that is out of the norm which is generally why it attracted so much media attention. Yet, rather it was considered a "joke" or not, it still had a very drastic meaning behind it, which i think thousands of women recognized all over the world. Sometimes it's not about how you go against tradition, its about the people that recognize the fact that you are going against it and follow your lead.

[Kess]

Yeah you're right.Its sucks when something so great is treated that way.Do you think media affected the riot grrrl movement in any way?

[I DONT NEED YOUR SOCIAL LOVE]

The media definitly had a very negative effect on the movement. I mean there were all these reporters who were intentionally fluctuating facts about those involved in the movement, as well as their objectives. The media flipped their messages and that is why people saw them as a joke.

[Kate J]

I generally believe that if there is a rising subculture, the media will attribute everything going "wrong" with the youth of the nation to the subculture of the times. I think this had a large effect on the nation's idea of what riot grrrl is.

Compound that with the fact that the media is NOT comfortable with women in charge, the stories go through so many approval and editing process that its ludicrous to believe that a piece about strong women taking back what is theirs will not be vetoed, skewed, or made to villainize the participants of the movement.

But you know, I'm comforted by the fact that they are scared of us.

[I DONT NEED YOUR SOCIAL LOVE]

That is a very true statement regarding the medias response to a rising subculture. Media alone tends to deffinitly focus on the negative side of any rising exploited minority.
yet, alot of it indeed has to do with that fact that they dread the idea of a women who can decide for herself and dictate herself.
Ahh, it is wonderful the effect we have!

[neurotrash]

Well I dont know though... Do you really want the general public to perceive you as a sensible movement wich acts upon a set of political motives that has been intelligently weighed off against one another? I mean, doesnt that sort of detract from the riot aspect of it? Because 1) Its always an advantage if the enemy doesnt know what to expect and 2) you need some misunderstanding as a pretext for riot dont you? :p

[Kess]

well not exactly.they took it so much out of context that the original views of the movement were lostto the public and thats too far.

[I DONT NEED YOUR SOCIAL LOVE]

Well sure, if you want to soley foucus on the "riot" term of it. However, it may be nice to have an array of "mystery" but than again, the point was not to go on some masquerade for no justifiable reason. They had an explicit message to spread. Now if you are attempting to comunicate a message to people, and your message gets misconstrued, than that defeats the whole purpose. Which typically means that when the media misinterprets a message and distributes the information in a false manner, you lose your edge. When one goes against the basis of tradition and defies stereotypes, those that disagree with them are bound to shred their intentions. The riot Grrrl movement was one of those movements that was purposely misrepresented and exploited.