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It's really funny that Bikini Kill are credited with ushering in 3rd wave feminism. The fact that men are still so central to their political message feels very 2nd wave to me. It's the kind of binary thinking that 3rd wave/radical feminism moved away from... i mean, those women might identify as radical feminists but the actual musical content says otherwise. I also feel like they fall into a lot of the bullshit tropes of identity politics. If I was to follow BK's logic, as a male feminist interested in fighting women's oppression, am I somehow forbidden because I'm biologically predisposed to having a dick instead of a cunt?
I tend to agree with bell hooks' vision of feminism as a conduit for women to enter the larger world/larger collective struggles instead of just existing as a group distinct from some monolithic notion of men who are solely linked with perpetuating sexism (another bullshit factor, women don't even need men anymore to reinscribe sexism). If I was a gung-ho feminist and really wanted to use music as a medium for political consciousness raising, I wouldn't try and limit my struggle to the narrow punk scene that BK came out of. I read some interview where she complained about guys coming to shows since she "wasn't making the music for them." Sorry grrrl, but if you feel like there aren't enough women coming to see you... chances are its YOU that's doing something wrong and not translating well.
Slant 6 is so much better. Kathleen Hanna is seriously on the level of Adrienne Rich misandrist annoyingness. And this is coming from a queer male.
I also have a prob with calling people "female artists" and throwing them in with the dated riot grrrl scene. You're creating a ghetto. PJ Harvey was smart to distance herself from all that nonsense. 50 Ft. Queenie, Man-Size, Happy & Bleeding, Hair, Me-Jane = songs involving strife between the sexes that most riot grrls wished they could write.
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