By Sally Evans @flepdraws
Fan Club Zine #004 Grrrl Power - a ‘zine to celebrate everything we love(d) about the 90’s. A huge thanks to all of the contributors who pulled together some fantastic writing and artwork in such a short space of time <3. Fan Club organises monthly events at Rough Trade (Nottingham), to promote and celebrate female-identifying artists, musicians, writers, illustrators, *whatever*. Fan Club parties will happen on the first Saturday of every month at Rough Trade, Broad Street, Nottingham. UPCOMING EVENTS 3rd October: Aïcha (Resident DJ at Donuts Nottingham) Aïcha will be playing a mix of hip-hop, funk, soul and electronic beats from the female perspective, paying extra attention to the positive messages ladies have contributed to these genres. Rough Trade, Nottingham - 7pm - 1am 31st October: Fan Club Halloween Fancy Dress Special (Think Buffy/The Craft/Sabrina the Teenage Witch) Rough Trade, Nottingham - 7pm - 1am Thanks to: Mouni Feddag Louise Byng Ashleigh Wood Sally Evans Vickie Bennett Graeme Peacock Julie Gough Sadie Rees Hales Rachel Nelson Francesca Vaney Noel (Cupboard Promotions) Ganda Media for printing our zines, (http://www.gandamediasolutions.com)
We want to make the night super inclusive, so if you feel you want to get involved with any aspect of the event or zine, just shout! Email: fanclubnotts@gmail.com Twitter: @fanclubnotts Instagram hashtag: #fanclubnotts
& to everyone who dances on the tables xo @FANCLUBNOTTS FACEBOOK.COM/FANCLUBNOTTS editor & designer : Kaylea Mitchem (@cyndilopear)
My 90s TV and Movie Lady Heroes by Francesca Vaney (@noisyhearts)
Being born at the tail-end of the 1980s means that my 90s experience was limited, and much of my knowledge and enjoyment of 90s culture is retrospective. That doesn’t mean, however, that I have not learnt many valuable lessons from the awesome fictional women of the 90s. In no particular order, here are my top five 90’s lady heroines of film and television.
Wednesday Addams - The Addams Family “You severely underestimate my apathy”.
Unselfconsciously weird girls are awesome, and they don’t get better than Wednesday Addams, played by Christina Ricci in the 1991 film. Hilariously deadpan and sadistic, with a striking and iconic look. I now really want to dress up as Wednesday for the Halloween edition of Fan Club, (which is the 31st Oct - 7pm-1am, by the way!).
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Kat Stratford 10 Things I Hate About You
“I guess in this society being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time”. I’m pretty sure that the movie 10 Things I Hate About You is where I first learnt the word ‘patriarchy’ so to say it made an impression on me is probably an understatement, and I still love the description of Kat’s interests as “Thai food, feminist prose and angry girl music of the indie rock persuasion”. I remember finding it thrilling to see a character whose not-quite-mainstream interests feel genuine rather than being a clumsy attempt at a stereotypical ‘alternative’ character. I love her independence, her strong beliefs, her assertiveness and her humour.
Kim Kelly Freaks and Geeks “Are you calling me irrational? Because I’ll tear your head off”.
I love Kim’s toughgirl attitude, and, as a fellow angry girl, I loved seeing a character who could be grumpy and short tempered but still have a big heart and not be demonised for having, and expressing, strong feelings. Being a teenager is frustrating and difficult, and Kim’s honest, unfiltered attitude and vulnerability really speaks to me, even now I’m in my mid-20s.
Sister Sister & Cher by Sally Evans Twitter: @flepdraws
Buffy Summers Buffy The Vampire Slayer “I’m the thing that monsters have nightmares about”.
The TV series ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ defines the 90s for me. The clothes; the attitudes; the pop culture references and, of course, Buffy herself. She’s much more than an action hero and I love that she saved the world, (a lot), but still got to argue with her mother, date boys, and dream of going to prom. Quick witted, funny, smart, resilient and strong, with unmatched loyalty and devotion to her friends, Buffy is someone we could all learn something from.
ara g e an M s ,Ic e s l s u re . Her, Ic’m in dinstice day”
el ea ams is. Hav d a “I’m andl e th h
I fiercely defend Hercules as a forgotten high point in the Disney renaissance. The songs are great, the narration (by the hilarious and awesome Muses, the coolest girl gang in Ancient Greece) is brilliant and Megara is one of the fiercest Disney heroines of all time. When I was young I loved her sarcasm, quick-wit and independence (and, as with all the women of Disney, truly incredible hair). Now that I’m older, upon multiple re-watches when introducing the film to those who somehow missed it the first time around, I love her grey-area morality and the portrayal of her conflicted feelings.
http://cargocollective.com/itsalrightyeah
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You Go Girl Teufelsberg, Berlin (taken by Sadie Rees Hales)
TLC by Louise Byng Illustrator ~ Designer ~ Wordsmith louisebyng.co.uk - @byngsquirrel
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by Kaylea Mitchem (@cyndilopear)
Girl Gang & Stay Fierce stickers Ashleigh Wood onesailonesea.etsy.com
by Sally Evans @flepdraws
| Girl Power | by Rachel Nelson | I was never really interested in boy bands. The scorn of my older brothers deeply impacted upon my taste and I didn’t want to like anything that could be thought of as silly. When I discovered The Spice Girls, I knew people would think they were silly, but I didn’t care; I loved them immediately. The Spice Girls made me feel cool to be female for the first time. I vividly remember sitting in my bedroom looking at all of the posters I’d dutifully pulled out of Top of the Pops magazine and stuck to my wall. One of my brothers came in and told me that one day, I wouldn’t like the Spice Girls anymore. “Yes I will, I’ll always love them”, I replied, attempting confidence. Inside I was worried; in my experience so far as a nine year old, people older than me were usually irritatingly ‘right about things’. I couldn’t stand the idea that one day I would look scornfully upon these women who felt so important to me. This time though, I knew better. I had learned very quickly the lesson that The Spice Girls were trying to impart. I didn’t care what my brothers thought of them because what did they know?
I knew better because I was a girl, and by virtue of my gender, I possessed something special. I had girl power. As a child, girl power was everything that made me feel good; anything that made me feel bad was, by definition, anti-girl power. Girl power was strength, intelligence, kindness, sass, confidence, and above all, friendship. I learned that girls were stronger together. Although in hindsight, you couldn’t call the Spice Girls at all representative, at the time it felt like they were so different, each so individual. The Spice Girls were loud and brash and quiet and cute - all of which was epitomised in their nicknames. One type of girl did not equal all girls. When they sacked their manager in 1997 and began to manage themselves, it made headlines. This felt like the ultimate girl power move. It was a known fact that the group was manufactured by the usual middle-aged men that ruled pop from behind the scenes, but these women had realised their own power and potential gwen stefani and had taken control. by Mouni Feddag mounifeddag.com
This week I listened to an interview with Kathleen Hanna about the remastered release of ‘Revolution Girl Style Now’ on the All Songs Considered podcast. When asked about the impact of Bikini Kill, she replied: “I don’t know, it’s hard because it’s like, I can’t really think about it too much...I mean sometimes for me the impact stuff that’s really weird is when I open a Time magazine that calls Michelle Obama ‘girl power’...and our second fanzine was called Girl Power. (…) People don’t usually attribute that to Bikini Kill but that is pretty much where it came from and then it became a Spice Girls thing and then things like that where it’s like oh, you know, the US Women’s Soccer team being called girl power, and a poster that says girl power with a picture of the soccer team on it and I’m thinking back to the fanzine and I kind of chuckle, and I remember when I was younger feeling more like ‘I’m being ripped off! I’m not getting paid for this!’ you know what I mean? And now I’m just kind of like oh wow, how cool to have been a part of something that seeped into mainstream culture and in all of its forms has taken so many different kind of journeys...”
This was a bombshell for me; I had no idea that the phrase ‘girl power’ came from Bikini Kill and the riot grrrl scene. The more I thought about it though, the more sense it made, and the happier it made me. Sometimes we are selfish in our scene when it comes to sharing. We don’t always like to see bands that we’re used to watching in clubs go on to play arenas. We feel affronted when the music we love is watered down to radio play, becoming bland and eager to please the masses. But when I hear stories like this, I am so pleased that these alternative scenes can make an impact on the mainstream. Okay, so Geri Halliwell wasn’t writing SLUT on her stomach and demanding girls get to the front, but she was pinching the bum of Prince Charles, which in the eyes of an eight year old in mainstream Britain, was pretty rebellious. Girl power was diluted, but it was served up to children all around the world, and they drank it down like Coca-Cola.
I have a photo of myself and a friend from when we were nine or ten, kneeling on the ground, one arm around each other, the other arm stuck out doing the peace sign- a Geri Halliwell signature pose. One of the most important things I learned from listening to the Spice Girls was how important friendship was.
Most of their songs contained some kind of allusion to relationships coming second to real friendship. The Spice Girls rose to fame at such an important time for me, because instead of wishing I could marry so-and-so from whatever boyband, I wished I could have friends as cool as The Spice Girls. And in the end, that was a much more positive and realistic dream. As a twenty-eight year old I can say with assurance: I do have friends as cool as The Spice Girls. My friends, male and female and everything inbetween, are filled to the brim with girl power. When weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re together I feel all those things that girl power made me feel; I am fun, I am intelligent and I am powerful. I am a Spice Girl.