Allison Wolfe: the personal is political

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ALLISON WOLFE: THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL
by
MEGHAN FARNSWORTH
______________________________________________________________________________

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM: THE ARTS)

December 2015

Copyright 2015 Meghan Farnsworth

2

Acknowledgements

Thank you Tim Page, who stood by my side, encouraging and seeing this entire project to its
completion. His tireless support and suggestions pushed me to shape and perfect a story I wished
to bring to light. I would also like to thank USC Visions & Voices Executive Director Daria
Yudacuksi for putting me in touch with Kathleen Hanna and Allison Wolfe, further establishing
the groundwork for this thesis. My thanks also extend to Sasha Anawalt, who encouraged me to
look deeper into my love for punk music.

Most importantly, thanks to Allison Wolfe for letting me share her story and spending numerous
hours with me, just so I could get it right.

3

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 2

Abstract 4

Allison Wolfe: Punk Musician and Feminist Activist 5

“I had a mother. She taught me to want more than that ” 9

“Slap me till I feel fine. Who commits the real crime? Will you ever be mine? ” 14

“We don ’t need sophistication; We just make up things we like ”: 26
Summer of ’91 & the Formation of Riot Grrrl

“Maybe scabies, we ’re all ladies. Maybe scabies, I hate you.” 32

“Mass Teens on the Run ” 40

“Are you a lady? Are you a girl? ” 47

“Girls like me were born to rock-n-roll ” 50

References 54

4

Abstract

Allison Wolfe is a punk musician and feminist activist who co-founded the Riot Grrrl movement
during the early 1990s. Riot Grrrl inspired a nationwide network of young women to confront
sexism through punk rock ’s “anyone can do it ” spirit of musical amateurism and nuts-and-bolts
community building. By forming bands or writing in homemade, cut-and-pasted magazines, or
“fanzines, ” teenage girls and young adult women formatted an underground culture based on
their feminist ideals.

Wolfe ’s upbringing in Olympia, Washington was a crucial backdrop for the cultural movement
she helped create. As a teenager, she plunged into the city ’s local do-it-yourself (DIY) punk
music environment, an emerging subculture in the Pacific Northwest filled with art and music
assembled from repurposed materials, such as ukuleles, kazoos, or garden utensils purchased at a
liquidation sale.
1
That was between the late ‘80s to early ‘90s, and since then, music as a
community and vehicle for sociopolitical and feminist discourse has been the heart of Wolfe ’s
activism. This article intends to piece together Wolfe ’s story — her past, motivations, and
creative inspirations — into a nuanced portrait of her life as a punk musician and feminist
activist.

1
Sara Marcus, Girls to the Front: the True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution, (New York:
Harper Perennial, 2010), 37.

5

Allison Wolfe: Punk Musician and Feminist Activist
She enters — slowly but not creepily. Her movements signal the development of a decadent
crescendo for the eyes. Wearing a tight, silver-sequined mini dress, she sparkles her way toward
the stage ’s middle, along with flawlessly executing a few cartwheels. She ends on a jaw-
dropping display of “the splits, ” saving her best trick for last.

As the lead singer and songwriter of Los Angeles’s Sex Stains and formerly of the band
Bratmobile, Allison Wolfe exhibits an onstage persona that’s part high school cheerleader, part
1960s go-go dancer. She ’s an anomaly among punk ’s more bellicose features, exuding a stage
presence that is fun and girlish rather than hair-raising and aggressive. Everything about her is
vintage, too — the cat-eye glasses, the colorful mini dresses, and the long red hair with blunt
bangs reminiscent of ‘60s actresses Jane Asher and Brigitte Bardot. “I like ‘50s and ‘60s style, ”
Wolfe jokingly admits. “Whatever you thought was cool basically in your twenties tends to stay
with you. ”
2

Her appearance and stage antics are striking and altogether unexpected from someone who ’s a
fierce feminist. Yet that’s the entire point. During the early ‘90s, Wolfe co-founded the feminist
movement Riot Grrrl, a grassroots effort of young women who reclaimed femininity by writing
and performing punk rock music. “She ’s the kind of hyper cheerleader, ” said Evelyn McDonnell,
an associate professor at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) who teaches a class on Riot

2
Allison Wolfe, personal interview, December 4, 2014.

6

Grrrl. “[She ’s] taking something that was maybe seen as an objectification and finding power in
that persona. ”
3

Wolfe is the antithesis to the feminist generation before her — i.e., “the second-wave ” — which
rejected hyper-feminine stereotypes, such as go-go dancers, cheerleaders, or the word “girl. ”
These were women who, at the 1968 Miss America Pageant, threw makeup, high heels, bras, and
girdles into a “freedom trash bucket ”
4
, rallying against what they saw as oppressive symbols
carrying on unrealistic ideas of beauty. They believed the marketing of such standards oppressed
women into roles of domesticity and low-income jobs
5
, and they sought liberation from these
definitions.

Third-wave feminism, or the feminism of Riot Grrrl, carried on the radicalism of the second-
wave but clashed in its approach. Rather than rejecting lipstick, high heels, or other traits second-
wave feminists deemed “girly, ” the third-wave embraced these traditionally feminine symbols
and reclaimed the words “girl, ” “slut, ” and “bitch. ” They disagreed with the second-wave ’s
limitations in language and image and endeavored to make feminism more down-to-earth by way
of punk music.

“One of the most important aspects of riot grrrl's legacy is the way it located the place where the
feminist mandate to remake basic institutions or communities met punk's spirit of do-it-

3
Evelyn McDonnell, personal interview, January 27, 2015.
4
Megan Gibson, “I am Woman, Hear Me Roar: The ‘Bra Burning ’ Miss America Protest, ” Time
Magazine (2011), accessed June 25, 2015, doi: 0,28804,2088114_2087975_2087965,00.
5
Martha Rampton, “The Three Waves of Feminism, ” Pacific Magazine (2014): accessed July 2,
2015, http://www.pacificu.edu/about-us/news-events/three-waves-feminism.

7

yourselfism, ” said NPR pop music critic Ann Powers through email. “Great as it was, the
Women's Music movement of the 1970s remained suspicious of rock and roll because it was
male-dominated and so aggressive. Riot Grrrl claimed both the form and the spirit of rock as part
of grassroots feminist activism. ”
6

That form and spirit was found in Wolfe ’s hometown of Olympia, Washington, where the city ’s
make-it-your-own, DIY culture encouraged young women to shape personal creative outlets out
of the closest available materials. Riot grrrls took to electric guitars, drum sets, microphones, or
homemade cut-and-pasted magazines, or “fanzines, ” to communicate their ideas regardless of
musical training or resources.

The point was to broadcast their message. As edgy teens surviving the first years of college, they
were radical and driven by the feeling that feminism had become antiquated and secluded. Their
women ’s studies professors used language that felt arbitrary to them, and they wanted to open
the feminist conversation to include their own young life experiences. “Second-wave feminism
didn ’t like the term ‘girls, ’ and they were concerned more with women’s culture rather than
girl ’s culture, ” said LMU assistant professor McDonnell. “Third-wave feminism, and clearly
Riot Grrrl, was really interested in speaking to young women and embracing the culture of
adolescent to even pre-adolescent girls. ”
7

6
Anne Powers, interview by author, January 19, 2015.
7
Evelyn McDonnell, personal interview, January 27, 2015.

8

At home is where Wolfe felt the generational divide between the new and old movements most
ostensibly. The eldest of three sisters, she was raised by her lesbian mother Pat Shively, a radical
second-wave feminist. Shively instilled a strong sense of independence in her daughters and
taught them to “follow our hearts, question authority, fight for the underdog, laugh loudly, and
basically raise hell. ”
8

Shively ’s influence made a dramatic impact on the young Wolfe. Yet, as a woman and feminist
of the new era, she diverged from her mother — a distinction that encapsulates the difference
between second- and third-wave feminism, says McDonnell
9
.

“It ’s not that I wanted to be different; I just was different, ” said Wolfe. “I ’m a lot girlier. She was
very butch. ”
10

8
Allison Wolfe, “Allison C. Wolfe, Statement of Purpose, USC Annenberg Masters in
Specialized Journalism (the Arts),” (presented in an application to USC Annenberg School of
Communications and Journalism & directly emailed to the writer, March 6, 2015).
9
Evelyn McDonnell, personal interview, January 27, 2015.
10
Allison Wolfe, personal interview, June 25, 2015.

9

“I had a mother. She taught me to want more than that ”
11

“I think my mom was ultimately proud that we were doing something that was feminist, ” said
Wolfe when asked about her mother ’s reception of Riot Grrrl. “She later got this big truck, and
she got vanity Riot Grrrl plates on it. It was pretty funny. ”
12

Coming from a working-class Nebraskan family with six children, Pat Shively had to declare her
independence early on. She was a “tomboy, super irreverent, ”
13
often flustering her strict
Catholic parents. Shively once strutted down the street with a lit cigarette in her hand and
audaciously smoked it in front of her parents ’ neighbors, instigating a party line of distressed
telephone callers.

She could tackle almost anything she put her mind to, owning a take-charge, can-do attitude.
“She liked to fix everything herself and didn’t want help from anyone else, ” remembered
Wolfe
14
.

Shively came-of-age during the Civil Rights Era. As a young nursing student in Memphis,
Tennessee, she experienced firsthand a city shook by the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. This
made an immense impact on her, in addition to what she saw as the city ’s turbulent racism.

She later married Joe Wolfe, a Vietnam veteran and fellow medical student in Memphis; on
November 9, 1969, Allison Wolfe and her twin sister Cindy were born.

11
Partyline, “Nüthaus ” from Zombie Terrorist, Retard Disco, 2006, Spotify.
12
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
13
Allison Wolfe, interview by Erica Lewis, October 12, 2009, transcript.
14
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, June 25, 2015.

10

Over the following years though, it became apparent that Shively and Wolfe ’s marriage wasn ’t
working. According to Allison, her father became physically abusive toward her mother. “My
father was very controlling, and he was abusive to my mom. He hit her, ” remembered Wolfe.
“She would fight back, but ultimately, I mean, he was the abuser. ”
15

Shively filed for divorce, and the two split-up. She then launched a radical overhaul of her life,
immediately adopting a progressive lifestyle as a lesbian, a vegetarian, and an impassioned
political protester. With custody of Allison, Cindy, and their youngest sister Molly, they became
“the weird poor family with scabies and a gay mom. ”
16

In 1980
17
they moved to Olympia after Shively earned her nurse practitioner’s license. Within a
year, she founded the Eastside Women ’s Health Clinic
18
, Olympia ’s first independently owned
female health practice with the aim of being run by and for women.

The clinic was also among the first to perform abortions in Olympia. Upon the Supreme Court ’s
legalization of the operation through the landmark case Roe v. Wade in 1973, medical
establishments like Shively ’s clinic transformed into the subject of cruel, often life-threatening
controversy.

15
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
16
Allison Wolfe, “Countdown to…”, Sex Stains: Exposed!, 7.
17
Cindy Wolfe, interview by author, January 28, 2015.
18
Elizabeth Schulte, “Arson clinic at Washington abortion clinic, ” SocialistWorker.org (2005):
accessed July 20, 2015, doi: 2005-1/527/527_02_ClinicArson.shtml.

11

At ten years old, Wolfe began experiencing this polemic as anti-abortion protestors beleaguered
her family, her mother, and the clinic ’s staff, leaving a lasting impression that only soured as the
young girl matured. “I remember all the animals, the pets of everyone who worked at the clinic,
were poisoned, and everyone had to go to the vet, ”
19
Wolfe later recalled. Her mother often wore
a bullet-proof vest to work
20
, and her fellow staff members learned how to respond to bomb
threats
21
. At times, Olympia police checked the building for any explosives
22
. Even angry
passers-by threw rocks at Shively and her daughters ’ home.

The protests eventually culminated into the clinic being burned by an arsonist in 2000. The
arsonist was never caught, but the fire took a toll on the clinic ’s ability to provide abortions.
“The insurance raised their rates so high that they just couldn ’t afford it,” Wolfe said on
DISSONANCE, a biweekly music and talk radio show based in Washington, D.C. “It ’s like the
insurance companies are sponsoring terrorism. ”
23

Profoundly affected by this experience, Wolfe made it the subject of the song “Party-n-Animal”
with her post-Riot Grrrl band, Partyline:
So you think-- You can burn it down--
No don ’t you dare-- Not in this town--

19
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
20
Elizabeth Schulte, “Arson clinic at Washington abortion clinic, ” SocialistWorker.org (2005):
accessed July 20, 2015, doi: 2005-1/527/527_02_ClinicArson.shtml.
21
“Ladies We Like: Pat Shively, ” Ladyfest, accessed July 20, 2015,
http://ladyfest.org/LadiesWeLike/Shively_Pat.html.
22
Ibid.
23
“Allison Wolfe - Dissonance/ Danger Mike (10-10-06), ” Youtube video, 5:13, interview with
the singer on DISSONANCE, posted by “hainus france, ” November 18, 2014, accessed June 17,
2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkyCe09Ttio.

12

You got the nerve-- You got the Right--
Ain ’t got no brains-- Ain’t got no life —
You don’t care about the girls or the kids in the street
Lives of the living, ladies dying at your feet.
All us girls fight so hard, wave your cross in our face
You can never break us-- (blow us back into the stone age)
You got the pigs-- You got the Prez
You ain ’t pro-life-- All about death
We ’re gonna freak out-- We ’re gonna scream--
You Christian fucks-- See what I mean--
My mom always kicked your ass, rolling over in her grave
I know you survivalists, terrorshits of to-day
We ’re just losing everything, all we do is laugh at that
Gotta keep from crying at our monkey terror president
Ain ’t got the right!
Ain ‘t got no life!
Ain ’t got no right!
Ain ’t got no life!
-- Ain ‘t got no right!
-- Ain ‘t got no right!
-- Ain ‘t got no right!
-- Right.
24

Her mother also received death threats in the mail from accused rapists, an act that always
shocked Wolfe.
25
. Shively often performed what are known as sexual assault forensic exams, or
“rape kits ” — medical tests used to examine women believed to have been sexually assaulted.
Because hospitals in Olympia didn ’t offer these procedures, she routinely performed them, even
remaining on-call for emergency testing. This made her a key witness for the indicted rapist ’s
trial, as she would later appear in court to testify in favor or against the accused based on the
evidence she found. With this crucial role in the justice process, Shively became a prime target
for harassment.

24
Partyline, “Party-n-Animal ” from Zombie Terrorist, Retard Disco, 2006, Spotify.
25
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.

13

All of these experiences, as well as Shively ’s enduring “fight for the underdog ” mentality, set a
tremendous example for Wolfe — a feminist role model “almost too big to live up to. ”
26
“My
mom was a really strong person, clearly, ”
27
said Wolfe. “She was a real activist — not even so
much in word, but just by action. ”
28

26
“Legendary Allison Wolfe and Riot Grrrl in Georgia for Freedom of Expression, ” Facebook,
accessed July 21, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/notes/antonin-ik-marto/legendary-allison-
wolfe-and-riot-grrrrl-in-georgia-for-freedom-of-expression/10151042409961828.
27
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
28
Ibid., April 8, 2015.

14

“Slap me till I feel fine. Who commits the real crime? Will you ever be mine? ”
29

At home, however, Shively ran a relaxed household, one where the rules were simple: “Do the
dishes and Do not disturb. ”
30
Yet, she warned her daughters that, by 18, they would be out of her
house and on their own. “She was tough like that, ” remembered Wolfe
31
.

Independence was Shively ’s motivational thorough-line in life and business. She took charge and
fought hard to establish her clinic despite bouts of poverty and threats on her life. In the end, she
won her battle, her American Dream and boldly believed anyone else could, too.

As Shively led by example, Wolfe followed, developing her own social consciousness as a high
school freshman. It was then she began a relationship with “a nerdy jock ”
32
who epitomized her
idea of control and manipulation. He demanded that Wolfe stay home after their dates, and his
house felt “weird and formal, ”
33
much like a ‘50s television sitcom.

Wolfe severed the relationship, spurring assault from her ex-boyfriend. “He held me up against
the wall, like by the collar, and was kinda yelling at me. Then he left, ” described Wolfe. “He
came back …He shoved me up against the wall again …Then, while walking out, he threw a
frying pan off the stove, across the room, busted it. ”
34

29
Bratmobile, “Make Me Miss Amerika ” from The Real Janelle EP, Kill Rock Stars, 1994,
Spotify.
30
Allison Wolfe, “Countdown to…”, Sex Stains: Exposed!, 7.
31
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
32
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
33
Ibid.
34
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.

15

The encounter was a shocking reminder of Wolfe ’s home life before her parents divorced. “It
was just this display that reminded me of my dad, and something snapped in me, ” she recalled
35
.

Wolfe didn ’t have the words to politicize the experience then, but it led to a profound realization,
pushing her to repel anything she saw as a connection to her ex-boyfriend. To her, his behavior
represented “the mainstream, ” or dominant trends, opinions, and perceptions of the culture at
large. “In my mind, I just knew that mainstream culture was wrong, ” said Wolfe. “[I wanted]
something more alternative. ”
36

That ’s when she turned to music, a spiritual lifestyle that fed Olympia ’s alternative devotees. For
them, the fun wasn ’t always focused on alcohol or drugs; music was a liberating meet-up, a
cultural high point where personal expression met enlightening ideas. “We were just kids
dancing all night, ” remembered Wolfe.
37

At first, she explored the synth-pop freedom of new wave, a form of music melding pop and
punk. Yet she later abandoned this genre and follow the heels of Olympia ’s punks, who
considered new wave conformist. Within that punk scene, she met Calvin Johnson, an eccentric,
young man about town who founded Olympia ’s indie record label, K Records, and later played
in the influential DIY trio, Beat Happening.

35
Ibid.
36
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, July 8, 2015.
37
Ibid.

16

Established in 1982, K manifested the raw, individualistic flavor of DIY — that which is lo-fi,
unfinished, and unrefined. The sound itself occupied a stance against what the label saw as “the
corporate ogre ”
38
— i.e., conventional culture and media. In its earliest days, music was strictly
released on homemade cassette tapes, as it was the perfect conduit for distributing recordings in
and out of WA-state. “Johnny Appleseed had the right idea, ” read a section of K ’s history.
“Homegrown tastes best, decentralize the means and distribution of your sustenance, cultivate
strains outside the petridish [sic] of corporate culture. ”
39

Wolfe listened to K music and attended shows featuring other regional WA DIY bands, like the
Melvins, SNFU, No Means No, and Skid Row — later known as Nirvana. She even became
inspired by the San Francisco-based Negativland, an avant-garde act filled with musique
concrète soundscapes spliced together from various texts and sounds of mass culture
40
.
“Negativland re-arranges these found bits and pieces to make them say and suggest things that
they never intended to, ” discussing issues of the evolving Web, intellectual property, and mass
media and culture
41
.

Although ignited by this radical scene, she never imagined herself as a musician in it. “Even
though I went to all this stuff, I was still a little bit shy, ” said Wolfe. “I didn ’t ever envision
myself participating in it. ”
42
There was Tobi Vail and Donna Dresch, two Olympia girls around
Wolfe ’s age who played rock music and wrote fanzines, as well as Heather Lewis from Beat

38
“K History, ” K Records, http://krecs.com/history/.
39
Ibid.
40
“The Negativland Story, ” Negativland, http://www.negativland.com/news/?page_id=250.
41
“The Negativland Story, ” Negativland, http://www.negativland.com/news/?page_id=250.
42
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.

17

Happening. Wolfe, however, hadn’t considered following in their footsteps until she saw singer
and feminist activist Kathleen Hanna perform with her band Viva Knieval.

It was the summer before Wolfe left for University of Oregon (UO) in Eugene, OR. Hanna
looked like a real-life version of the punk bandit comic book character
43
Tank Girl
44
with her
shaved head and combat boots. She was “super intense — always glaring at everything ”
remembers Wolfe. “She was screaming at the tog of her lungs onstage with just a red face — and
she looked like she was gonna explode — sweating, veins popping out of her neck, whatever,
and she was screaming, ‘Boy poison! Boy Poison! ’ or something. And I thought, ‘Wow! That
girl is crazy. It ’s awesome. ’”
45

Wolfe had never watched a woman onstage act that aggressively before; it was “stuff you kinda
[sic] see guys doing ”
46
. This, as well as catching the “tough and snotty ”
47
all-girl band Calamity
Jane for the first time, impressed Wolfe, influencing her that maybe she could be a performer,
too.

Then the school year at UO began, and Wolfe met her musical match within the first week of
classes. It was Molly Neuman, a fierce young city girl with whom Wolfe would later start the all-

43
“The 30 Comic Books You Should Have Read, ” Empire Magazine, accessed July 30, 2015,
http://www.empireonline.com/features/30-comic-books-you-should-have-read/p30.
44
The Sex Stains, interview by author, October 21, 2014.
45
Ibid.
46
Sini Anderon, The Punk Singer, Netflix, 16:11,
http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70273232&trkid=13752289&tctx=0,0,48ceca37247
a2a5f4f21ad1df868ce4a852d3824:ceeb423d6206d1ce909e5186ebac7a403bb8a424.
47
Allison Wolfe, interview by Michele Koury, November 10, 2009.

18

girl band Bratmobile. She was politically radical, but in a different way than Wolfe was used to
in Olympia. Neuman instead discussed the intersection of race, class, and politics, having studied
the writings of black political activist Eldridge Cleaver, watched the films of Spike Lee, and
listened to the definitive, fiery sounds and lyrics of revolutionary rap/hip-hop combo Public
Enemy
48
. A native of Washington, D.C., she was also “super politicized ”
49
in a way that
resounded the dominant politics of the nation ’s capital.

The tough, East Coast girl guided Wolfe into thinking differently about her own sociopolitical
awareness. “I just had these personal experiences that were pretty politicized, but I hadn't
politicized them myself, ” she said
50
. Wolfe began to view incidents, such as her parents ’
marriage and divorce, her mother ’s clinic, and the eye-opening encounter from her high school
ex-boyfriend, as real-life examples of sexism and classism.

Wolfe and Neuman spent hours in the restroom of their dorm, discussing music and politics, and
enrolled in the same political and women’s studies classes. They became inseparable, almost
mistakingly alike
51
. “People confused us all the time, ” Wolfe later told writer Michele Koury
52
.

They were partners-in-crime, tearing down campus signs that illustrated what they saw as sexist,
racist, or homophobic imagery
53
. Sometimes, they hijacked parties, singing a cappella covers of

48
Author Unknown, liner notes to Public Enemy, Spotify.
49
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
50
Ibid.
51
Sara Marcus, 57.
52
Allison Wolfe, interview by Michele Koury, November 10, 2009.
53
Ibid.

19

Beat Happening, or throwing off the dance floor with their own set of tunes
54
. It was, however,
their women ’s studies courses that pushed the two girls ’ rebelliousness even further.

Throughout the ‘80s, feminism itself — what it meant to be a feminist, whether it mattered
anymore, and the effects of the second-wave — became a proverbial quagmire, haunted by
stereotypes and name-calling
55
. “I picture a feminist as someone who is masculine and who
doesn ’t shave her legs and is doing everything she can to deny that she is feminine, ”
56
said
college student Linn Thomas to journalist Claudia Wallis in the 1989 Time Magazine cover story
“Life: Onward, Women! ”. Other names and descriptors, like “man haters ” and “antifamily, ”
57

became commonplace, as young and mid-career women began to question, and often ridicule,
the second-wave ’s approach to gender equality. To that, writer Wallis added, “It is hard for them
not to feel resentful: toward society for not coming to the aid of women in their new roles,
toward the movement for not anticipating the difficulties. ”
58

The resentfulness hit feminism hard, and by the ‘90s, the movement retracted into a stodgy,
academic consciousness using complicated, out-of-touch jargon a select few understood. This
seclusion was explicit when Wolfe and Neuman attended their women’s studies classes. “We felt
there were ways in which they didn't speak to us — like it was too academic, ” said Wolfe. The

54
Allison Wolfe, interview by Michele Koury, November 10, 2009.
55
Sara Marcus, 22.
56
Claudia Wallis, “Living: Onward Women! ”, Time, December 4, 1989,
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959163,00.html.
57
Sara Marcus, 22.
58
Claudia Wallis, “Living: Onward Women! ”, Time, December 4, 1989,
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959163,00.html.

20

word “girl ” was taboo, as well as upholding traditionally feminine ideas, such as makeup, high
heels, or bras
59
.

Restrictions like these turned into a much-needed wake-up call for the two girls. They wanted to
bring feminism back to a younger audience, one still connected to their girlhood. “We wanted to
have this feminist and politicized life but also this kind of punk rock life, ” Wolfe recalled. “Less
classicist, really, and more normal in plain language, or more punk. ”
60

Olympia was the perfect place for that, a city fueled by an underground punk rock scene. At any
available chance, Wolfe and Neuman escaped from Eugene and ventured to Olympia, becoming
increasingly entwined in its DIY culture. They grew closer with Calvin Johnson of K and
befriended Kathleen Hanna, the broodingly intense girl Wolfe saw during the summer of ’89, as
well as drummer/fanzine writer Tobi Vail, and musician/fanzine writer Donna Dresch
61
. “I just
remember them hanging out a lot, ” said Hanna
62
.

Like Wolfe and Neuman, Hanna possessed a fervor for feminist and social issues, and Vail was
enamored by the freedom of Olympia ’s creative culture to which she wrote in her ‘zine Jigsaw:
“I ’ve always felt encouraged in this one way, that people do want to hear what other people are
doing and encourage each other to participate and that whole support thing. ”
63

59
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, July 8, 2015.
60
Ibid., December 4, 2014.
61
Dresch was a crucial player in both riot grrrl and queercore punk music culture. She founded
the fanzine Chainsaw during the 1980s, as well as the band Team Dresch and independent music
label, Chainsaw Records.
62
Kathleen Hanna, interview by author, October 15, 2014.
63
Sara Marcus, 59.

21

Wolfe and Neuman brimmed with ideas about feminism and politics but didn ’t know how to
start communicating them to an audience. Hanna and Dresch were encouraging sources, yet it
was Vail who proposed the idea of the two starting their own fanzine. The notion clicked, and
the duo developed Girl Germs.

Girl Germs featured interviews with Pacific Northwest-based female musicians, as well as visual
art and other written contributions. Wolfe and Neuman published their first edition during the
initial months of 1991
64
. In their third issue, Wolfe wrote, “We will deal with you straight up
with love with hate with all the fucked up shit we ’ve been taught and bombarded with. ”
65

All the while though, the two pretended to be musicians in the band “Bratmobile, ” an imaginary
ensemble Wolfe and Neuman created. Based on the idea that “we were brats and we wanted to
be mobile ”
66
, the duo sought to break out of the isolation they felt in Eugene and tote their
revolutionary ideas like teenage “brats ”. With that came the genuine desire to play music, but
they didn ’t know where to begin. Neuman was taking guitar lessons
67
, and Wolfe had music
experience from childhood. She sang in the choral group, the Music Kids, and played clarinet in
her high school marching band. Writing songs, though, was a fresh, yet overwhelming endeavor
the two hadn’t quite tackled until Calvin Johnson booked them for a concert at Olympia ’s North
Shore Surf Club.

64
Sara Marcus, 60.
65
Lisa Darms, editor, The Riot Grrrl Collection, (New York: The Feminist Press, 2013),
Location 322, Kindle Edition.
66
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
67
Sara Marcus, 60.

22

“He really put us in a place where we couldn ’t say no, which I ’m glad for, ” said Wolfe
68
. The
two were set to play on Valentine ’s Day, 1991 alongside Olympia bands, Bikini Kill (Hanna,
Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren) and Some Velvet Sidewalk.

With only a month to prepare, the girls scrambled to compile a list of songs they could perform.
Robert Christie, a musician from the Eugene-based band Oswald 5-0, lent them his practice
space, and Wolfe and Neuman started writing.

They acquired a set list five songs later. “We weren ’t even convinced they were songs, ”
remembered Wolfe
69
. Yet the act of appearing onstage as female musicians was a powerful
political and feminist statement in and of itself, and their lyrics stepped outside of the strained
feminist vocabulary of their second-wave, women ’s studies professors.

One song, “Girl Germs, ” perfectly encapsulated this:
Girl germs, no returns
Can ’t hide out they ’re everywhere
Girl germs, no returns
Have to come out and play the game
Girls are the rots, you insist
By pulling my ponytail you persist.
To put down my goofy game
When yours is goofy just the same
A paper doll of superior boyness
Clinging to your clubs to mask your own shyness
Singing only boys with the goods
For a clubhouse in the woods
Girl germs, no returns
Can ’t hide out they ’re everywhere

68
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
69
Ibid.

23

Girl Germs, no returns
Have to come out and play the game
You spin around on your carousel
Going nowhere and looking swell
Sometimes I catch you looking my way
You always get scared and run away
‘Cuz co-ed playground means confrontation
With boyish fears of girl intimidation
You ’re too cozy in your all boy clubhouse
To even consider having Kool Aid at my house
Girl germs, no returns
Can ’t hide out they ’re everywhere
Girl germs, no returns
Have to come out and play the game
Why don ’t you love slurpies in the sun?
Why can ’t we go to Skippy ’s house for fun?
I see you said bored with heart decay
How you missed out you ’ll realize one day
How you missed out you ’ll realize one day
70

Their musical set-up was simple: Neuman on drums and Wolfe mostly on vocals (as well as one
guitar part). Wolfe ’s voice reflected kiddie playtime as she sang “Girl germs, no returns ” with a
nasal-y, childish demeanor, and Neuman pounded her skins sans snare, declaring each hollow
beat metronomically. They were akin to the kids on their imaginary playground, figuring out
their instruments along with a beloved nursery rhyme.

Finally, they had broken feminism ’s academic barrier, something that Sleater-Kinney singer and
guitarist Corin Tucker forever remembers
71
. “It was the first time I ’d seen feminism translated
into an emotional language. That I saw those kinds of thoughts and ideas put into your personal
life, that ’s not in a textbook or an academic discussion, ” she later told Greil Marcus
72
.

70
Bratmobile, “Girl Germs ” from Kill Rock Stars, Kill Rock Stars, 2005, Spotify.
71
Sara Marcus, 63.
72
Greil Marcus, The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice, (New York:
Picador, 2006), 187.

24

This moment not only blew out the dusty cobwebs from second-wave feminism ’s arbitrary
vocabulary, but it was also a watershed for feminism in rock music. Until this point, the genre
had been a tough sell for the second-wave, who shied away from pop culture, protesting its
objectification of women
73
. With that came rock, a mostly male-dominated, aggression-charged
genre, priding itself on the sexploitation of women
74
.

Throughout the ‘70s though, it seemed that punk, a subgenre of rock, might have existed outside
of this red-blooded mindset. After all, punk had its fair share of feminist-fueled front women,
like Alice Bag of the Bags, Exene Cervenka of X
75
, Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex, and Patti
Smith, as well as all-girl bands The Slits, Au Pairs, and the Raincoats. For them, the genre ’s
freedom to learn on the go as amateurs was appealing, since they didn ’t have to astound
audiences with technical virtuosity
76
. “But unlike many guys in punk bands, ” said NPR pop
music critic Anne Powers, “women still were often singled out as ‘bad ’ musicians. ”
77

Punk then inevitably became male-dominated, and in the 1980s ’s, its scene and sound went into
hardcore overload, filled with physical violence and virile presentation. “There physically was

73
Jennifer Baumgardner, “Aural History, ” Bitch Magazine, Winter 2004, Issue No. 23,
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/533b171fe4b0c551757d9ba3/t/5378f701e4b0edb14eafd005/
1400436481153/2004_aural-history.pdf, 77.
74
Anne Powers, “The Cruel Truth About Rock and Roll, ” July 15, 2015,
http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/07/15/422964981/the-cruel-truth-about-rock-and-
roll.
75
“Exene Cervenka Bio, ” Exene Cervenka, accessed August 3, 2015,
http://www.exenecervenka.net/exene-biography.html.
76
Ann Powers, interview by author, January 19, 2015.
77
Ibid.

25

not the space for young women to be safe at these [punk] shows,” said Corin Tucker in the
documentary The Punk Singer.
78

That ’s when Wolfe, Neuman, Hanna, and Vail (and later Corin Tucker) committed to taking
back rock and the punk scene for themselves in a declaration of “Revolution Girl Style Now ”.
By picking up guitars, microphones, basses, and drums, the girls entered the same playground as
the boys, but with even larger weapons than aggression and noise. It would be their feminist-
laced lyrics and presentation waking a sleeping generation.

78
Sini Anderon, The Punk Singer, Netflix, 18:52,
http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70273232&trkid=13752289&tctx=0,0,48ceca37247
a2a5f4f21ad1df868ce4a852d3824:ceeb423d6206d1ce909e5186ebac7a403bb8a424.

26

“We don ’t need sophistication; We just make up things we like ”
79
:
Summer ’91 & the Formation of Riot Grrrl

One element was missing for Bratmobile, though. During spring break ‘91, Wolfe joined
Neuman in Washington, D.C., where the two explored the city ’s punk music and met guitar
player Erin Smith. She was raven-haired, focused, and particularly obsessed about Olympia ’s
own DIY poster child, Beat Happening.

DIY ’s capabilities of creating culture wherever, whenever with whatever attracted Smith: this
meant she could play guitar without feeling hindered by the high standards of technical finesse.
“I could do it myself, too. I didn ’t have to be a huge star, famous. There wasn ’t [sic] a whole lot
of stumbling blocks, ” said Smith.
80
Yet, she spent time and energy taking guitar lessons,
practicing to perfect the sound she desired — a single-fingered, surf-guitar style similar to Ricky
Wilson of the B-52s. Smith also got to know her guitar models well, purchasing the Kapa
Minstrel teardrop guitar, a more affordable version of the Vox Mark VI played by the Rolling
Stones ’ Brian Jones on The Ed Sullivan Show.
81

Smith ’s musical existence was lonely, as she mostly practiced in the isolation of her room along
with her Beat Happening records
82
. At times, she played with Christina Billote, the blonde vixen
guitarist of the all-girl band Autoclave. At the heart of her guitar fascination, though, was the

79
Bratmobile, “I ’m in the Band” from Girls Get Busy, Simple Social Graces, 2002, Spotify.
80
“EMP Riot Grrrl Retrospective — Erin Smith gets connected, ” Youtube video, 0:56, posted by
“The Experience Music Project, ” June 16, 2011,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GluQw33frHU.
81
Sara Marcus, 66.
82
Ibid.

27

pursuit to start a band, and it was then that Smith and Billotte met Wolfe and Neuman for a jam
session at the Embassy, a group house in D.C. ’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood
83
.

Their musical chemistry felt effortless
84
. “It ’s amazing to just kind of be like, yeah, this is what
happens when you don ’t have formal training, and you kind of have a different perspective —
something different comes out. You have to get inventive, innovative with whatever you have, ”
said Wolfe
85
. Within a week, Bratmobile gained Smith as a guitarist, and six more songs in its
repertory. (Billotte, an experienced musician, later dropped out, appearing frustrated with
Bratmobile ’s anti-professional approach. “I think we drove her crazy, ” Wolfe later said
86
.)

The inexperience, however, didn ’t matter to Wolfe and Neuman; it was all a part of the DIY
discovery process, providing an entry way of accessibility. Sleater-Kinney ’s Corin Tucker, who
first saw Bratmobile and Bikini Kill perform as a wide-eyed young student at Olympia ’s the
Evergreen State College, said of the bands to Greil Marcus: “For young women to be doing that,
basically teenagers onstage, to be taking that kind of stance, that kind of power, was blowing
people ’s minds. And it totally blew mine. I was like —Okay, that’s it for me —I ’m going in a
band, right now. You had the feeling they had started the week before: you can do it too. ”
87

83
Sara Marcus, 66-67.
84
Ibid., 67.
85
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
86
Ibid.
87
Greil Marcus, The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice, (New York:
Picador, 2006), 187-188.

28

Wolfe and Neuman wanted to make more music
88
, and the following summer, Wolfe, Neuman,
Hanna, and Vail lived and worked in D.C. For them, the city ’s activism felt palpable in
comparison to Olympia ’s. K records might have set an alternative mood for its resident punks,
but overtly political music didn ’t have the same impact as it did in D.C., a city that experienced
protests regularly
89
. “Olympia is a really great scene in terms of community, but in terms of
politics, it was kind of difficult for us. We thought it would be cool to move to D.C., where there
was already a precedent for bands like us, not really feminist bands, but at least bands that were
interested in what was going on in the world, ” said Hanna.
90

That summer already promised excitement, too. When Bratmobile visited D.C. in the spring,
they met and played with punk musician and University of Maryland student Jen Smith. Until
that point, Smith hadn ’t recognized punk’s lopsided gender ratio
91
and wondered why there
weren ’t more bands like Bratmobile and Bikini Kill. Smith imagined a “girl revolution ” and sent
her thoughts in a letter to Wolfe, revealing the phrase “girl riot. ”
92

Meanwhile, Vail discussed spelling “angry girl ” with multiple r ’s, according to Wolfe. “The
combination of what Jen Smith said and Tobi [Vail] said became Riot Grrrl. ”
93

88
Sara Marcus, 70.
89
Ibid., 78.
90
Sini Anderon, The Punk Singer, Netflix, 24:36,
http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70273232&trkid=13462047&tctx=0%2C1%2C08d7
8c71-35ea-4796-b359-03d7c988a3f1-64449989.
91
Sara Marcus, 70-71.
92
Ibid., 73-74.
93
Sini Anderon, The Punk Singer, Netflix, 28:40,
http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70273232&trkid=13462047&tctx=0%2C1%2C08d7
8c71-35ea-4796-b359-03d7c988a3f1-64449989.

29

In July ‘91, Jen, Wolfe, Neuman, Hanna, and Vail created their first issue of Riot Grrrl, a weekly
mini-fanzine featuring the latest news from the female Olympia/D.C. punk scenes. They
distributed it as a way to find other angry grrrls wanting revolution girl style, too.

Yet, Riot Grrrl wasn ’t hitting a chord with D.C. ’s punkers. They passed up the girls ’ revolution,
asking the question — why would a group of Olympia girls care to change the D.C. scene if they
were only staying until summer ’s end? For this reason, Hanna called the first Riot Grrrl
meeting
94
.

The meeting assembled on July 24, 1991
95
at the Positive Force House, the gathering space for
youth-based activist group Positive Force. A gruelingly hot summer day was coming to an end,
and the nighttime cool air filled the second floor of a small room in the Positive Force House.
About twenty girls arrived, making the compact room feel cramped. Wolfe, Neuman, Hanna, and
Vail were also there, and they set an informal agenda as a means of generating and sharing ideas.
“We just wanted to have a meeting to come together and find common ground, ” remembered
Wolfe.
96

The common ground they found, though, wasn ’t what Wolfe, Neuman, Hanna, and Vail
expected. The space turned surprisingly cathartic, as young women began discussing issues of

94
Sara Marcus, 86.
95
Ibid., 89.
96
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, July 8, 2015.

30

sexual violence or homosexuality. “Turns out, they just wanted to talk without men being there, ”
Hanna said in the Punk Singer
97
.

Wolfe remembers the gathering lasting for hours. “I think a lot of girls really did feel the need
for having just meetings and support groups, ” she later told writer Michele Koury.
98

As indicated by the girls at the Positive Force house that night, women needed a revolution now
more than ever before. Bratmobile and Bikini Kill encouraged them to take “Riot Grrrl ” and
create their own, heartfelt meaning of it — whether it be through manifestoes, a regional feminist
organization, or a rock band. “All of us felt like, ‘Look, here ’s some ideas. Take it and run with
it,” said Wolfe.
99

Creativity was key, and an underground grrrl support network evolved. Squadrons of angry
teenage misfits — the grrrls who didn ’t meet an idealized body type or personality, or who ’d
been sexually harassed, assaulted, or abused — began to unite, speaking out against what they
believed was the mainstream culture fed to them as young girls and women. With little to no
money, they used whatever mediums available as long as their message — i.e., feelings — came
across. Sometimes, that meant staying up late with a typewriter, spilling their innermost feelings

97
Sini Anderson, The Punk Singer, Netflix, 26:36,
http://www.netflix.com/watch/70273232?trackId=200254728&tctx=0%252C0%252C914e5578-
fd9c-4b18-9468-439687daebc7-87553399.
98
Allison Wolfe, interview by Michele Koury, Dec. 10, 2009, transcript.
99
Sini Anderon, The Punk Singer, Netflix, 27:01,
http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70273232&trkid=13462047&tctx=1%2C1%2C1023
b347-f2d6-436c-96bd-462b9221e5e6-20761185.

31

onto the page, and at other moments, screaming, instead of singing, into a microphone just to be
heard by other women.

32

“Maybe scabies, we ’re all ladies. Maybe scabies, I hate you. ”
100

Wolfe and Neuman were high off the summer ’s excitement: they had finally started a punk band,
and the girl revolution they dreamed about had just begun. They returned to the West Coast later
that summer and transferred to Olympia ’s the Evergreen State College in the fall of ’91 to be
closer to the riot grrrls and the DIY scene.

Olympia and D.C. became the two main Riot Grrrl headquarters. Olympia ’s contingent,
however, was small at first with only a handful of girls, including Wolfe, Neuman, and Corin
Tucker
101
. The girls needed to find more like-minded women, and in January ’92, Wolfe called
the first meeting for Olympia ’s riot grrrls
102
.

At the same time, Bratmobile became bicoastal, and Wolfe and Neuman traveled to D.C. on
school breaks to practice with Smith. They prepared for their first tour in summer ’92.

Aside from being all-girl, Bratmobile itself was a distinctive trio, merging an ethos of punk and
pop. Smith, with her black Kapa Mistrel guitar, resonated the crunchy twang of a lyrical line,
acting as both rhythm and bass guitar. Neuman, nestled in the back, dominated her drums like a
drill sergeant creating chaotic order. Wolfe flipped between punk siren and pop princess, as she
enacted a gleeful smile and screamed “Fuck you too, Cool Schmool! ”
103
.

100
Cold Cold Hearts, “Maybe Scabies” from Cold Cold Hearts, Kill Rock Stars, 1994, iTunes.
101
Sara Marcus, 124.
102
Ibid., 126.
103
Bratmobile, “Cool Schmool ” from Pottymouth, Kill Rock Stars, 1993, Spotify.

33

“Coming out of surf music and using that, there was an element of fun, and to a certain degree,
they were a party band and a dance band, ” said Evelyn McDonnell. “I think that was just a way
to make [their] message more palatable and digestible and help it be consumed and heard. ”
104

For Wolfe, it was as though she was reconciling several extremes within her — that of being
bratty and young, sexy yet tough, all with a resolute message. She often singsonged into her
microphone and naturally crescendoed to certain words, emphasizing them with pitchy, bratty
screams: “You want to shut me in/ You got to shut me up/ You want to shut me in/ YOU SHUT
ME IN! ”
105

Wolfe ’s performances moved Hanna, the first girl who inspired Wolfe to take the stage. “I really
related to Allison's stage presence, and the way that she sang, ” remembered Hanna
106
.

Wolfe used lyrics that called to mind “the personal is political, ” a strategy used by second-wave
feminists building a political consciousness out of what was then considered life ’s innermost
aspects
107
. Taboo subjects, such as the pleasures of sex, sexuality, and relationships between men
and women, were up for evaluation and debate
108
, often revealing what they saw as learned
sexist behaviors.

104
Evelyn McDonnell, interview by author, January 27, 2015.
105
Bratmobile, “Stab ” from Pottymouth, Kill Rock Stars, 1993, Spotify.
106
Kathleen Hanna, interview by author, October 15, 2014.
107
June Hannam, Feminism, (Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2012), 81-82.
108
Ibid.

34

Within that mindset, Wolfe based her lyrics off of past relationships with boyfriends and girls, as
well as interactions with people in the punk scene. “My songs are often about how men treat
women, how women treat each other and themselves, and how it ’s a result of a sexist society and
how we need to acknowledge that and fight it,” Wolfe told writer Roxanne Groebel
109
. In “Stab, ”
she referred to the effects of an abusive relationship, perhaps the one that brought her to punk:
“You know where I ’ve been/ You want to stick it in/ You wanna tie me up/ You fucked me up!/
You want to stab me and fuck the wounds. ”
110
“Cool Schmool ” hinted at the Pacific Northwest
punk scene, its social inadequacies a profane commentary on sexism within its culture: “I just
wanna be one of the boys/ I just wanna be your little fashion toy/ Let ’s hangout and be cool,
alright/ …See I don’t know why you ’re always telling me what ’s so cool about what I ’m
wearing/ When you can ’t even tell me how you feel/ and you can’t even be my friend for
real. ”
111

***
They were ready to go, and in June ’92, Bratmobile went on its first-ever nationwide tour with
fellow riot grrrls, Heavens to Betsy (Corin Tucker and Tracy Sawyer)
112
. The tour ended in D.C.,
and during July ’92, Bratmobile recorded their first album Pottymouth at the Embassy with
Nation of Ulysses guitarist Tim Green as sound engineer. He charged “the cost of the tape
reel …a pizza and a box of black hair dye. ”
113

109
Allison Wolfe, interview by Roxanne Groebel, transcript.
110
Bratmobile, “Stab ” from Pottymouth, Kill Rock Stars, 1993, Spotify.
111
Bratmobile, “Cool Schmool ” from Pottymouth, Kill Rock Stars, 1993, Spotify.
112
Sara Marcus, 145.
113
Allison Wolfe, interview by Michele Koury, Dec. 10, 2009, transcript.

35

Like “Girl Germs, ” Pottymouth unveiled a window into feminism through the lens of girlhood,
as well as adolescence. The album ’s first song, “Love Thing, ” alluded to childhood sexual abuse
and its implication of sexism: “Admit it; Innocent little girls turn you on don ’t they?/ You like to
make them cry/ You like to tell them why/ You like to grow them up/ Swallow hard and throw
them up/ … I would die to hate you.”
114
The trio also paid tribute to the ‘70s all-girl band The
Runaways in their own stripped-down version of “Cherry Bomb. ” “[The Runaways] were a real
symbol for us, ” said Wolfe. “They were one of the first American all-girl bands doing rock and
roll. ”
115
The Runaways ’ guitarist Joan Jett (later of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts) noticed the
homage, as well as the feminist-driven rock they were creating. She loved it, as she saw her own
teenage self in their work
116
, and immediately took Bikini Kill and Bratmobile
117
under her wing.

That same summer they were gaining media attention outside of the underground punk scene. In
July, LA Weekly published the first feature on Riot Grrrl outside of the movement ’s own network
of ‘zines titled “Revolution Girl-Style Now. ” Written by Emily White, a recent Sarah Lawrence
College graduate, the piece offered a rare sympathetic portal into Riot Grrrl ’s motives and
rationale.
118
White wrote, “It has taken a long time to return to this first self and discover not an
innocence but a violated, tantrum-throwing, terrifying girl hero. She is as far from the self-
sacrificing, nurturing woman as you can get, and she implies that beneath this daylight woman's
surface there is another dark, powerful life. The Riot Girls refuse to cross the threshold into

114
Bratmobile, “Love Thing ” from Pottymouth, Kill Rock Stars, 1993, Spotify.
115
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, July 8, 2015.
116
Sara Marcus, 266.
117
Evelyn McDonnell, Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways, (Boston: Da Capo
Press, 2013), 284.
118
Sara Marcus, 159-161.

36

womanhood and lose that ferocious child. They don't want her to recede. They want her to
ascend. ”
119

It was other media outlets — USA Today, Newsweek, Spin, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post
and British music magazine Melody Maker — that diluted Riot Grrrl ’s intentions, depicting the
movement as a passing fad. In one USA Today article “Feminist Girls don’t just wanna have
fun,” riot grrrls ’ physical appearances, rather than their message, became the main focus: “A
scrawny boy stands by, watching the group and the bouncing sea of mohawked female fans in
Pucci-print minis. They sport hairy legs, army boots and tattoos. ”
120
The Washington Post
reiterated, “ It's basically about looking how you want and not worrying what anybody — read
men — thinks. ”
121
Newsweek claimed the movement ’s demise: “There's no telling whether this
enthusiasm or the Riot Grrrls' catchy passion for ‘Revolution Girl Style’ will evaporate when it
hits the adult real world. Most of the Grrrls are still in the shelters of home or college-a far cry
from what they'll face in the competitive job market or as they start to form their own
families. ”
122

Wolfe didn ’t care about the media, but it became the fence dividing her from fellow bandmates
Neuman and Smith, who saw the press as a way of spreading their music. “I think we just had

119
Emily White, “Revolution Girl-Style Now!, ” Chicago Reader, September 24, 1992, accessed
August 9, 2015, http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/revolution-girl-style-
now/Content?oid=880507.
120
Elizabeth Snead, “Feminist Riot Grrls don't just wanna have fun, ” USA Today, August 7,
1992, LexisNexis Academic.
121
Lauren Spencer, “Grrrls Only; From the Youngest, Toughest Daughters of Feminism — Self-
Respect You Can Rock To, ” The Washington Post, January 3, 1993, LexisNexis Academic.
122
Farai Chideya, “Revolution, Girl Style, ” Newsweek, November 22, 1992, accessed August 9,
2015, http://www.newsweek.com/revolution-girl-style-196998.

37

different ideas of what we wanted out of music, ” said Wolfe. “For them, it was more about
music, and for me, it was more about politics and social movement …I kinda [sic] didn ’t really
care that much about music; I was more about performance and making a statement. ”
123

Wolfe ’s passion for social change also affected her alliance with Riot Grrrl. By late fall ’92
124
,
in-fighting had begun among the grrrrls. The weekly meetings and pen pal relationships they
built as a support network — the sustenance staving them from what they saw as sexism and
mainstream acceptance — turned into a jury of judgment and conceit.
125
“It almost became a
competition of people trying to prove that they were the most oppressed, ” Wolfe recalled
126
.

She thought of a specific time when two Riot Grrrl latecomers, Cindy Hales and Akiko Carver,
joined the Olympia scene. “These girls were important in bringing their interest and race into the
conversation of punk, ”
127
said Wolfe. “But sometimes there just was a really mean streak in it
all, and it seemed like they just wanted to cut other people down in order to feel more vindicated
or better about themselves. ”
128

Hales and Carver, two mixed-race zine-writers, sought to create a discourse about race issues,
similar to how riot grrrls dissected gender
129
. Yet, Hales and Carver ’s method comprised of
demolition and intimidation rather than discussion and understanding. An example stood out in

123
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
124
Sara Marcus, 176.
125
Sara Marcus, 177-178.
126
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
127
Ibid., June 25, 2015.
128
Ibid., April 8, 2015.
129
Sara Marcus, 306.

38

particular: they had posited the idea of vandalizing cars they believed were owned by wealthy
Evergreen State College students. Wolfe recalled that one of her classmates, a woman of color
with a childhood of poverty, owned an expensive vehicle. “Just because a thing looks a certain
way, or a person looks a certain way, or a car looks a certain way doesn ’t mean it represents a
certain thing, ” Wolfe said. “Sometimes, poor people want to have nice things …[They were]
missing the point. ”
130
In her fanzine Evacuation Day, Carver drove the intimidation further, as
she pinpointed a list of people that she and Cindy wanted to assault, including a “random white
kid. ”
131

Wolfe tried to reason and dialogue with them, but “it didn ’t matter what you said; you could
never appease them.”
132

Hales didn ’t like to consider herself a riot grrrl, as the movement was fronted by white
women
133
. It was something that Riot Grrrl founders Wolfe, Hanna, and Corin Tucker tried to
confront and discuss, writing race issues into songs, such as Bratmobile ’s “Polaroid Baby ” or
Heaven ’s to Betsy ’s “White Girl, ”
134
as well as setting up workshops to talk about
intersectionality. However, as black zine writer Ramdasha Bikceem put it, “They had a
workshop on racism and I heard it wasn't too effective, but really how could it have been if it
was filled up with mostly all white girls. One girl I spoke to after the meetings said the Asian

130
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, June 25, 2015.
131
Sara Marcus, 206.
132
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
133
Sara Marcus, 306.
134
Christa D ’Angelica, “Beyond Bikini Kill: A History of Riot Grrrl, From Grrrls to Ladies ”
(Master ’s Thesis, Sarah Lawrence College, 2009), 60-63.

39

girls were blaming all the white girls for racism and that she 'just couldn't handle that.' Ever
heard of the word Guilt???... The overall experience of the Riot Grrrl convention showed me a
lot of different things and I'm sorry to say most of them were not very good ones... Don't get me
wrong I am totally for revolution grrrl now... but maybe it shouldn't just be limited to white,
middle-class, punk rock grrrls 'cuz there's no denyin' [sic] that's what it is. ”
135

Bratmobile was booked to headline at New York City ’s trendy Threadwaxing Space on May 7,
1994. Hales, along with Mary Fondriest, a white zine-writer who wrote about race, traveled to
NYC for the show. Their objective wasn ’t to support, however, and like the cars at Evergreen or
that “random white kid, ” they wanted to demolish, targeting Wolfe as the object of their
frustration.

135
Gabby Bess, “Alternatives to Alternatives: the Black Grrrrls Riot Ignored, ” Broadly, August
3, 2015, accessed August 11, 2015, https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/alternatives-to-
alternatives-the-black-grrrls-riot-ignored.

40

“Mass teens on the run ”
136

They hadn ’t practiced in six months; they weren ’t even getting along. Bratmobile ’s last formal
appearance had been during their summer ’93 tour in the U.K. with British band Huggy Bear.
Since then, Wolfe had moved to D.C., contemplating whether or not to stay; Neuman was living
in San Francisco, making short films and playing drums with the Frumpies (a side project with
Bikini Kill ’s Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren), the PeeChees, and musician Lois
Maffeo; Smith was wrapping up school at the University of Maryland
137
.

Playing at NYC ’s Threadwaxing Space, though, was a rare opportunity they wouldn ’t miss. It
was the coveted epicenter for artistic misfits, the place where the underground met its key
players and influencers. The Space did so by featuring solo and group exhibitions, lectures, films
screenings, discussion panels, readings, and musical performances
138
.

The night promised to be one dedicated to female-fronted bands, charged with opening acts
Blonde Redhead, DQE (Dairy Queen Empire), and Scarce
139
. Even Sonic Youth ’s Kim Gordon
was going to be there, as well as Joan Jett.

136
Deep Lust, “Mass Teens on the Run ” from Deep Lust, Kill Rock Stars, 2000, compact disc.
137
Sara Marcus, 307.
138
“Thread Waxing Space records, 1980s-2001, bulk 1991-2001,” Archives of American Art,
accessed August 11, 2015, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/thread-waxing-space-records-
13700.
139
Sara Marcus, 310.

41

The venue, a dingy loft space located in Soho, started filling with the stuffy, sweaty air of a jam-
packed audience turnout. It was as though the whole city had shown up, waiting to experience
what Bratmobile, and particularly Riot Grrrl, was all about.

Bratmobile took the stage, playing a set stocked with latent tension. Smith and Neuman, focused
and somewhat removed from Wolfe, pushed their volume and tempos, articulating veiled
trepidation. Wolfe ’s carefree sing-song turned into anguished screaming; at times, Smith and
Neuman almost stifled her voice completely. It was as if they were in an exhausted battle with
her
140
.

At a table near the back of the venue, Hales and Fondriest represented the collective zine
distributor Riot Grrrl Press. An unidentified man climbed onto their table, and Hales clipped
him, launching a full on fight
141
. When Hales and the man were pulled apart, she was told to
leave the concert. That, though, wasn ’t proper Riot Grrrl protocol, and Hales knew it. It was the
guys, not the grrrls, who were told to split
142
.

To grab Wolfe ’s attention, Hales fought her way to the stage ’s front, and Wolfe gave her the mic.
“I ’m like, ‘Stop the fuckin ’ show! Where ’s the girl power? ” Hales later told writer Sara Marcus.
“This guy is attacking me, and you guys aren ’t doing anything. ”
143

140
“Bratmobile - Live 1994, ” Youtube video, posted by “vacantmoon, ” April 11, 2015,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBghMwJmhxI.
141
Sara Marcus, 310.
142
Ibid.
143
Ibid.

42

The attention in the room suddenly shifted. Bratmobile was no longer in the spotlight; it was
Hales and Fondriest, who grabbed Wolfe ’s mic at every chance between songs. They spouted
against the man who assaulted them and, according to Anne Powers who reviewed the concert,
“the evening ’s failure to prove utopian. ”
144
The audience offered some support, but ultimately
begged Bratmobile to continue playing.

Wolfe couldn ’t push these girls away, though. “I kept trying to play damage control, and I kept
trying to reason and understand, ” said Wolfe. “It was a losing battle, and I was an easy target. ”

Along with Hales and Fondriest ’s scorching tirade, Wolfe ridiculed the Thread Waxing Space for
charging $8 admission, an exorbitant amount for any Riot Grrrl show. She backed out of that
statement quickly, criticizing herself for the profits Bratmobile was potentially gaining from the
high cost. In her review for SPIN, Powers wrote that Wolfe said, “‘We ’re profiting from it,’ she
exclaimed. ‘So fuck us!’”
145

Wolfe ’s bandmates were getting upset; Jett got onstage. Jett urged Wolfe to stop listening to
Hales and Fondriest and push through her set. Wolfe, though, was at a stalemate with herself, the
music, and the movement. For months, she, Neuman, and Smith hadn ’t seen eye to eye; she
couldn ’t even appease grrrls like Carver, Hales, and Fondriest, who were a part of her feminist

144
Anne Powers, “Bratmobile, Thread Waxing Space, New York City, May 7, 1994,” SPIN,
August 1994, 95,
https://books.google.com/books?id=3AHtQNYRR9YC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=bratmobile+
1994+Spin&source=bl&ots=sHzRw159MZ&sig=cNWXbrP9JiCyCQ7RElIxSmkWdvY&hl=en
&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAWoVChMIlr6n9a6lxwIVCU-
ICh1mewCy#v=onepage&q=bratmobile%201994&f=false.
145
Ibid.

43

community. It was as though the dream of building a punk rock scene untouched by the
mainstream was too idealistic, too difficult to reach. In only a matter of time, Wolfe had to face
the truth. She looked between her bandmates to Jett, to Hales and Fondriest
146
.

The pressure of decision was too much, and Wolfe started to cry. Neuman threw her drumsticks
down and stood up, shouting, “I quit! ” Smith took the mic and told Wolfe, “I ’m not gonna play
with you anymore. ”
147
Right there onstage, Bratmobile was officially over. “I ’ve always felt sad
about that moment, ” said Evelyn McDonnell, who attended the performance. “I think Allison
was really unfairly treated in that moment and that it really was a setback … A lot of Riot Grrrl
sabotaged each other, and they didn ’t want to let people be leaders or stars. ”
148

The experience left Wolfe wounded, physically and mentally drained. She disappeared from the
venue without her bandmates. “I felt like I had nothing left, ” said Wolfe. “I just wanted to hide
out for awhile. ”
149

With the D.C. band Deep Lust, Wolfe later wrote about the incident, as well as her relationship
with Hales, in the song “Mass Teens on the Run ”: “It was 1994 and It is no mistake that I hate
you/ I ’ll never forgive you for what you did/ You tried to sabotage my whole existence/ Just cuz
[sic] I didn ’t call you for 2 fucking weeks?/ 1994.”
150

146
Sara Marcus, 311.
147
Ibid.
148
Evelyn McDonnell, personal interview, January 27, 2015.
149
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.
150
Deep Lust, “Mass Teens on the Run ” from Deep Lust, Kill Rock Stars, 2000, compact disc.

44

Wolfe wanted to grow-up. She settled in D.C., focusing her energy and thoughts on making
money. “I just wanted to go somewhere different, and somewhere that had jobs, ” said Wolfe. “I
just wanted to go where I could work and where I knew a lot of people. ”
151

Ultimately, she wanted to dodge music, Riot Grrrl, and politics altogether. Still, living in the
Nation ’s Capital, where the first Riot Grrrl meeting happened, made it difficult for her to avoid
politics or feminism. “I just realized what a kind of cozy bubble I lived in in Olympia and how
D.C. was kinda [sic] a harsh toke. It ’s definitely a man ’s world, ” said Wolfe. “I missed that
really supportive feminist scene. ”
152

It was tough for Wolfe to stop contemplating what happened during that past year. She
questioned everything — Riot Grrrl, the progress it had made, and the friends she assumed were
her teammates. Had she been too idealistic when she avoided the media, while playing with a
band who needed the press to sell tickets? D.C. ’s guy punks made her even more skeptical, as
they practiced many of the same sexist behaviors she spoke out against. There was the naiveté of
male privilege told in the song, “1,2,3…Many! ”: “You, yeah you think you ’re different
somehow or is that you think we ’re all the same?/ Well, if everyone ’s so equal, why are you so
fucking lame?/ …And I don ’t know if you really understand what I ’m saying, and you ’re not
saying nothing!/ Just go drink your beer, frat boy. ”
153
The expectation of women in domestic
roles was also alive and well, as Wolfe and her female housemates felt criticized by male
roommates for sounding off about cleaning up after their messes: “Are girls too smart for

151
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
152
Ibid.
153
Cold Cold Hearts, “1,2,3 …Many! ” from Cold Cold Hearts, Kill Rock Stars, 1997, iTunes.

45

success?/ Or are we all just dumb enough?/ To be controlled and then complain/ and always do
your fucking dishes!/ Yeah, there ’s all those dishes/ Fuck….your …dishes! ”
154

She even experienced more street harassment than in Olympia — something, to Wolfe ’s chagrin,
her male counterparts sometimes didn ’t challenge. Wolfe recalled an instance when Christina
Billotte, James Canty of Nation of Ulysses, and herself walked through the Columbia Heights
neighborhood of D.C. “A man was walking behind us and kept saying fucked up stuff about all
the women, ” remembered Wolfe. “I was surprised that James didn ’t say anything. ”
155
To ward
off the predator, Wolfe pretended to vomit; Billotte tried to cough. Yet Canty remained silent. “I
grew up in Olympia, which is pretty fucking liberal, and in a household that was all women, like
lesbians and my sisters, ” said Wolfe. “I was just not used to all the male energy. I got a huge
dose of it the minute I got to D.C …and I was angry about it.”
156

She needed a new avenue for speaking out. In 1995, Wolfe formed the band Cold Cold Hearts
with Erin Smith, bassist Natalie “Nattles ” Mencinsky, and drummer Katherine Brown. With
Wolfe on vocals and Smith on lead guitar, their sound was still distinctly Bratmobile but edgier
and more enraged. The teen punks had left the sweet sound of girlhood innocence for
megaphones and dystopia. “Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, it ’s purely
coincidental, ” Wolfe sang into a megaphone. Smith rang out a single-fingered guitar lead,
reenacting the sharp persistence of ambulance sirens. Nattles, with the throaty bellows of a bass
guitar, followed close behind, her sound similar to beefy, brute henchmen. With her cymbals

154
Partyline, “Ladies ’ Room ” from Zombie Terrorist, Retard Disco, 2006, Spotify.
155
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, July 8, 2015.
156
Ibid., December 4, 2014.

46

loosely fixed, Brown rattled in time, like the clacking of cold metal against an armored tank. In a
sense, they were saying the world was fucked. “When I look at the lyrics of the Cold Cold
Hearts record, I ’m just like, ‘Oh my god.’ They just look so angry and insane, and they almost
didn ’t even make any sense. But I kind of love it, ” said Wolfe. “It ’s just this energy that’s so
intense …I ’m really glad that I put that energy somewhere. ”
157

Riot Grrrl faded out as a living, breathing movement by the late ‘90s. Mainstream culture
adopted the term, the fashions, and the entire sound and look of it, co-opting “girl power ” in the
five-piece British pop outfit, the Spice Girls. Because of this, some riot grrrls, who were a part of
the movement ’s growing pains, attempted to deny their experiences. For Wolfe though, she
couldn ’t reject the label. “In a way, it means you’re saying that you ’re not a feminist. ”
158

157
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
158
Ibid., January 25, 2015.

47

“Are you a lady? Are you a girl?”
159

In 1999, the Experience Music Project (EMP), a Seattle-based museum then still in the works,
contacted former riot grrrls with an interest in documenting their experiences for a Riot Grrrl
retrospective. Wolfe, Neuman, Smith, Vail, Tucker, and others met in Olympia, and the
atmosphere felt much like a long-awaited reunion. “It was the first time a lot of us who had been
in Riot Grrrl or involved had kinda [sic] been in the same room together and talking about this
stuff since the early ‘90s, ” said Wolfe. “It was the first documenting of what we did and feeling
validated by anything we did instead of …just kinda [sic] sweeping it under the rug. ”
160

Five years passed since Wolfe confronted the movement she had considered her spiritual
foundation. She then realized the passions and activism of Riot Grrrl had, after all, been crucially
groundbreaking and necessary. Along with Sharon Cheslow from the D.C. band Chalk Circle
and Corin Tucker, they discussed ways to re-harness Riot Grrrl ’s energy into a new, focused
format. They needed to more than ever, as Woodstock ’99 showed that rock had regressed to the
reckless, sexist behavior of their earlier Riot Grrrl days.

That ’s when Wolfe envisioned Ladyfest, a festival for all women — whether they be visual
artists, writers, musicians, entrepreneurs, doctors, or lawyers — to gather, network, and
celebrate their artistic and political contributions.

159
Bratmobile, “Are You a Lady ” from Girls Get Busy, Simple Social Graces, 2002, Spotify.
160
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.

48

Set in Olympia, Ladyfest was a week-long festival, featuring musical performances, as well as
spoken word, visual art, and workshops ranging from self-defense to discussions on gender
socialization in middle and high school. “The festival has attracted hundreds of people to this
bucolic little town…Mostly young women in their late teens and early 20s, they have made the
pilgrimage from nearby cities like Tacoma, Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, but also from
Toronto, [and] Arizona, ” Shawn Conner wrote for the Canadian newspaper, The Globe and
Mail.
161
“A lot of people left [Ladyfest] and took it to their own towns or cities, ” said Wolfe.
“People recreated it where they lived, and I thought that was really cool because it just kept
moving on and speaking to those communities. ”
162

Wolfe, though, built Ladyfest for an even more personal reason — out of the love and
admiration she had for her mother, who was diagnosed with third-stage ovarian cancer in 1998.
Once the chemotherapy stopped working, Wolfe looked to the event as a way to cope with the
unavoidable reality of losing her mother. “I needed something to build on and work towards for
the future, ” said Wolfe. “Something to focus on during the times I wasn ’t being with or taking
care of my mom. ”
163

Shortly before her mother died, Wolfe received her first and last tattoo — a single red rose with
the word “MOM ” scrolling overtop of it. Noticeable yet discreet, it sits somewhat hidden
towards the back of her left arm, as though it were a branding of her mom ’s love and devotion to

161
Shawn Conner, “Ladyfest: riot-grrrl heaven in the U.S. Northwest; Hundreds of fans have
converged on Olympia, Wash.,; for an exuberant female-dominated; celebration of music,
poetry, film - and tattoos, ” The Globe and Mail, August 8, 2000, LexisNexis Academic.
162
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, December 4, 2014.
163
Allison Wolfe, interview by Lea Beattie, transcript.

49

activism, a reminder to continue speaking out and battling on. “She liked it,” said Wolfe. “She
was really awesome. ”
164

164
Amy Phillips and Irin Carmon, “Bratmobile, ” Perfect Sound Forever Online Magazine,
March 2003, accessed June 16, 2015, http://www.furious.com/perfect/bratmobile.html.

50

“Girls like me were born to rock-n-roll ”
165

Although Riot Grrrl ended almost 20 years ago, Wolfe maintains the same youthful approach to
the stage as she did during Bratmobile ’s earliest days. “It ’s still the same me, ” she said to radio
host DJ Mike of DISSONANCE when asked about audience expectations of her in bands outside
of Bratmobile. “I ’m not a chameleon who keeps trying to reinvent themselves. It ’s not true to
me. ”
166

Wolfe calls herself “an uncompromising voice, ”
167
and within this vein, she has fought hard to
keep her message, as well as herself, free from the mainstream. “She ’s made her point, ” said
McDonnell. “She ’s not going to let her message be diluted. ”
168

Other former riot grrrls, though, have entered into dominant culture ’s threshold. Kathleen Hanna,
with her current band the Julie Ruin, openly speaks to media outlets she once avoided, such as
SPIN and Rolling Stone. Corin Tucker and her band Sleater-Kinney have performed on NBC ’s
Late Show with Seth Meyers, crossing a corporate line many riot grrrls adamantly picketed.

Yet Wolfe stays underground, stepping back from the mass media limelight for fear of selling
out to what others may view as self-sabotage. “I wanted to be in a punk band, and maybe that

165
Partyline, “Girls Like Me ” from Girls With Glasses, Retard Disco, 2005, Spotify.
166
“Allison Wolfe - Dissonance/ Danger Mike (10-10-06), ” Youtube video, 32:09, interview
with the singer on DISSONANCE, posted by “hainus france, ” November 18, 2014, accessed June
17, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkyCe09Ttio.
167
Allison Wolfe, “Allison C. Wolfe, Statement of Purpose, USC Annenberg Masters in
Specialized Journalism (the Arts),” (presented in application to USC Annenberg School of
Communications and Journalism & directly emailed to writer, March 6, 2015).
168
Evelyn McDonnell, interview by author, January 27, 2015.

51

wasn ’t radio-friendly enough. But freedom of expression was the most important thing for me; I
wouldn ’t compromise it. I can’t fake anything, perhaps to my detriment. ”
169

Her sincerity in music and message continues unabated, her live performances full of untainted
energy and monologue. For McDonnell, who invited Wolfe as a speaker to her annual Riot Grrrl
class at LMU, Wolfe makes music look fun and accessible and calls her “inspiring. ”
170

At the crux of Wolfe ’s work is her goal to build self-esteem in all women. “It ’s sort of a
cautionary tale, ” she said. Perhaps she fears the mainstream would water-down this particular
narrative.

As a child, she witnessed abuse. Within her own home, there was domestic violence, and at 8
years old, she experienced neglect from a host family who housed her as a young girl studying
gymnastics away from home. “I was living with this horrible family, ” she said. “The house was
just gross and dirty. They didn ’t feed me all the time …I was the babysitter for their six-year-old
daughter. ”
171

Experiences like these took a toll on Wolfe ’s self-esteem. “Those are really crucial years when
kids need a lot of support and attention, ” said Wolfe. “I think that affected my self-esteem for the
rest of my life. ”

169
Allison Wolfe, interview by Brandon Gentry, transcript.
170
Evelyn McDonnell, interview by author, January 27, 2015.
171
Allison Wolfe, interview by author, April 8, 2015.

52

In her music, she attempts to reconcile the consequences of these early life encounters for herself
and other women in similar circumstances who have felt powerless. She does so in the song
“Countdown to…” with her current band, the Sex Stains:
I was 8 years old, my parents were divorcing. I wanted to be
a gymnastics star! They sent me to live with some scary family,
Who took the money & left me alone with the mice, porn and the dirt.
We roamed the streets stealing and flipping people off!

I was often hungry. One night they went out to eat and
brought me nothing. I made mac-n-cheese by myself, & put the
cheese pack in before draining. They laughed and said, “Too bad, kid,
that ’s your dinner! ” Music saved me — Solid Gold, Lily, Rosemary, & the Jack of Heartsss

We were the weird poor family with scabies and a gay mom.
We walked to school in the rain while the rich kids splashed us driving past us with a wave.
Mom worked her ass off — leaving us alone.
The only rules were: “Do the dishes and Do not disturb. ”

I don ’t remember anything, but Dad kept a loaded gun in the bedside table. When my sister
I were 5, Mom came into the bedroom to find us pointing the gun
at each other. “Give Mommy the gun …”

In high school, I went out with this older controlling jock dude.
When I broke up with him, he shoved me up
against the wall and busted a frying pan on his way out …

Your golden fine things are my nightmare.

I won ’t go vacant while you ’re on holiday.
I won ’t go vacant while you ’re sent away.
172

Among a blanket of rhythmical chaos, Wolfe ’s words cut through the distortion: “I won ’t go
vacant while you’re on holiday! ” Her vocal quality is a mixture of singing and screaming, and
she phrases each line like a car horn pushed in succession. Yet nothing about her movements
onstage appears aggressive; she could also be a cheerleader yelling into a megaphone. She ’s

172
Allison Wolfe, “Countdown to…”, Sex Stains: Exposed!, 7.

53

unapologetic of her femininity and unashamed to uncork her life experiences, for punk has given
her the undeniable power to overcome cruelty and injustice, the kind she faced as a young girl.
***
At the Los Angeles Art Book Fair, multiple tables of fanzines and displays occupy the Geffen
Contemporary at MOCA. Wolfe explores the entire space, feeling very much in her element.
Along the way though, two young girls — each at different times — stop Wolfe, approaching
her with awe. “You have inspired me, ” says one girl. “Could I take a picture with you? ” Wolfe,
surprised by the comment, sheepishly yields, unaware of the impact this moment will have on
her young fan forever.

54

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Abstract (if available)

Abstract Allison Wolfe is a punk musician and feminist activist who co-founded the Riot Grrrl movement during the early 1990s. Riot Grrrl inspired a nationwide network of young women to confront sexism through punk rock’s “anyone can do it” spirit of musical amateurism and nuts-and-bolts community building. By forming bands or writing in homemade, cut-and-pasted magazines, or “fanzines,” teenage girls and young adult women formatted an underground culture based on their feminist ideals. ❧ Wolfe’s upbringing in Olympia, Washington was a crucial backdrop for the cultural movement she helped create. As a teenager, she plunged into the city’s local do-it-yourself (DIY) punk music environment, an emerging subculture in the Pacific Northwest filled with art and music assembled from repurposed materials, such as ukuleles, kazoos, or garden utensils purchased at a liquidation sale. That was between the late ’80s to early ’90s, and since then, music as a community and vehicle for sociopolitical and feminist discourse has been the heart of Wolfe’s activism. This article intends to piece together Wolfe’s story—her past, motivations, and creative inspirations—into a nuanced portrait of her life as a punk musician and feminist activist.

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Girl germs, no returns: a Bratmobile oral history

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Creator Farnsworth, Meghan (author)

Core Title Allison Wolfe: the personal is political

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism (The Arts)

Publication Date 09/03/2015

Defense Date 09/03/2015

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Abortion,activism,Allison Wolfe,Ann Powers,Bikini Kill,Billy Karren,Bratmobile,Calvin Johnson,Cold Cold Hearts,Corin Tucker,d.c.,Deep Lust,Erin Smith,Evelyn McDonnell,feminism,girlhood,Greil Marcus,Heavens to Betsy,Joan Jett,K Records,Kathi Wilcox,Kathleen Hanna,Kill Rock Stars,Ladyfest,Los Angeles,MOCA,Molly Neuman,Music,OAI-PMH Harvest,Olympia,Partyline,Pat Shively,punk,Riot Grrrl,second-wave feminism,Sex Stains,Sleater-Kinney,social change,the Eastside Women's Clinic,the Runaways,third-wave feminism,Tobi Vail,Washington,women's health,women's issues

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Advisor Page, Tim (committee chair), Anawalt, Sasha (committee member), Kun, Joshua (committee member)

Creator Email meghanefarnsworth@gmail.com,mfarnswo@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-175215

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