Grrrl Gaze X Unattainable Blonde 'Once a teenage girls starts liking something, it's over'

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β€˜π•Ίπ•Ίπ•Ίπ•Ίπ•Ίπ•Ίπ•Ίπ•Ί 𝖆𝖆 𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙 π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œ π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜ 𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑 π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜, π–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žβ€™π–˜π–˜ 𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔’: 𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲𝕲 π–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆ 𝖆𝖆𝖆𝖆𝖆𝖆 𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙 𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋 π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œ'

'𝕺𝕺𝕺𝕺𝕺𝕺𝕺𝕺 𝖆𝖆 𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙 π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œ π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜ 𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑𝖑 π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜, π–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Ž 𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔' Kerry Winfrey

An ode to our teen years; they were messy, embarrassing and punctuated by awful side fringes. We may have made questionable fashion choices and drank Lambrini by the pint, but teenage girls had musical TASTE and defined these iconic eras. To all the teens, femininity is not to be laughed at. We are the top consumers of popular culture, we set the trends and our support can make an artist. So, like what you like, remember that it’s cool to be like other girls, and continue to trailblaze in honour of all the incredible huns that came before us. All these themes can apply to other marginalised genders who relate to experiences of misogyny. Love your fave huns, Ocean (grrl gaze) & Gem (unattainable blonde)

The 00s were dominated by unapologetic, excessive femininity. Think pink, glitter, and visible thongs. This musical era was so important to many of us in our formative years as we bleached streaks into our hair and choreographed routines in our groovy chick bedrooms. It is having its resurgence now and getting the credit it deserves as an iconic era that gave us so many bops. Also, as we reach our 20s and become blatant about our love of this era (except the low-rise jeans) we recognise that it was not free from its issues especially colourism and fatphobia. To us being a Hun is to be inclusive and relatable: it is quoting 'I was a total slag' and 'I'm claustrophobic Darren', loving the Sugababes and downing Echo Falls rosΓ©. At its heart, Hun culture is inherently a love letter to brazen working class femininity, it is a state of not giving a fuck and being able to have a laugh at yourself. It is the love of icons such as Nikki Grahame (Rest in Peace my love), Nadia Almada, Alison Hammond and The GC. These working-class divas didn't have the opportunity to go to pricey drama school or have exclusive professional music lessons. Their route into the entertainment industry was through reality TV. They earned their icon status through their relatability, quote-able-ness, and personalities. Because of their reality TV roots they are often not taken seriously, despite being part of a huge cultural phenomenon: Hun culture. This quote from Lauren O’Neill (Vice, 2021) sums it up:

'𝕿𝕿𝕿𝕿𝕿𝕿 π–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Ž 𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗𝖗 𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔 𝕳𝕳𝕳𝕳𝕳𝕳 π–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆπ–ˆ 𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍 𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇 𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋 𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋 π–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Ž π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œβ€”π–Žπ–Žπ–Žπ–Žβ€™π–˜π–˜ 𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉 π–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œπ–œ 𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋 𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒 π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜π–˜ 𝖔𝖔𝖔𝖔 𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍𝖍 π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œ π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œ π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œ 𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇𝖇 𝖆𝖆𝖆𝖆𝖆𝖆 π–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œπ–Œ-𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋𝖋 𝕴𝕴𝕴𝕴𝕴𝕴𝕴𝕴𝕴𝕴 𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒𝖒 π–˜π–˜π–π–π–π–π–π–π–π–π–π– 𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉𝖉 𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙 𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙𝖙.'

U alright hun? Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ZmPlRqddzfGseAdjJQwNy?si=a2f01c8f6fcb43f7 Pop music peaked in the 00s. As β€˜Girl Power’ dominated the 90s and The Spice Girls (Say You’ll Be There, track 1) rocketed to worldwide superstardom, women ruled the charts. Pop music of the 00s is camp at its core, and artists including Kylie (Love at First Sight, track 2), and Sophie Ellis-Bextor (Murder on the Dancefloor, track 3) took heavy influence from 70s and 80s disco and club culture to make ground-breaking bangers, which still fill gay bar dancefloors to this day. The breakup of The Spice Girls left the charts wide open for a new β€˜it’ girl band, and talent shows such as β€˜The X Factor’ and β€˜Popstars: The Rivals’ capitalised on this, plucking band members from small towns around the country and thrusting them into the limelight. Although these formats exploited many people’s dreams of stardom to then present them as a joke on national TV, they also gave working class people around Britain the chance to break into the industry. Liberty X (Just a Little, track 6), who finished in second place to Hear’Say on Popstars reached number one on the UK singles chart, and X Factor rejects including Kelly Northall, Rachel Lester, and Dawn the Jockey have achieved iconic hun status in recent years thanks to their audition tapes resurfacing on Tiktok. Perhaps the biggest success story of this talent show era are Girls Aloud (Sound of the Underground, track 5), five working class girls, largely from the north who broke records following their β€˜Popstars: The Rivals’ win, with the band launching the careers of now household names including Cheryl Tweedy and Nadine Coyle. Urban music of the time heavily influenced the pop music of the 00s, and these primarily black artists are rarely given their dues. Ms. Dynamite (Dy-Na-Mi-Tee, track 9), Mis-Teeq and Honeyz blended pop with more traditional garage and RnB beats and vocals, replacing the more bubblegum sounds leftover from the 80s. The Sugababes, one of the biggest groups to feature a majority women of colour, revolutionised sampling in pop with their hit cover of Adina Howard’s β€˜Freak Like Me’ (track 8) produced by Richard X and sampling β€˜Are β€œFriends” Electric’, and this electronic influence can be seen in member Mutya Buena’s solo hit β€˜Song 4 Mutya’ (track 7) with Groove Armada. The success of the darker, sexier subject matter and moody electronic beats of the Sugababes, meant that this sound was replicated in the solo careers of many female artists trying to distance themselves from previously ’vanilla’ careers - such as Rachel Stevens (Sweet Dreams My LA Ex, track 4), following her exit from S Club 7.

Although 00s hun culture championed working class femmes, toxic and racist attitudes and beauty standards bled through the genre. Members of girl groups were often bullied and labelled β€˜the ugly one’ if they did not strictly fit into the mould of what was deemed attractive, and black band members were falsely labelled as β€˜angry black women’ by tabloids. Unfortunately, these attitudes towards women in the industry are still present. Recently, Jesy Nelson of Little Mix and Keisha Buchanan from the Sugababes have spoken out against the misogynistic press in documentaries (Odd One Out and Race, Pop & Power), but work still needs to be done to hold the press accountable. As toxic as the media has been towards the women of the industry, the high standards of pop in the 00s have given the genre staying power and as samples and covers of music from this decade, such as Sweet Female Attitude’s Flowers (track 10) still chart in the 20s, we are reminded that hun culture lives on.

1) Say you’ll be there- Spice Girls 2) Love at first sight- Kylie Minogue 3) Murder on the dance floor- Sophie Ellis- Baxtor 4) Sweet dreams my LA ex- Rachel Stevend 5) Sound of the underground- Girls Aloud 6) Just a little- Liberty X 7) Song 4 Mutya (out of control)- Mutya Buena, Groove Armada 8) Freak like me- Sugababes 9) Dy-na-mi-tee- Ms. Dynamite 10) Flowers sunship Radio Edit- Sweet Female Attitude, Sunship

Tumblr AF We've all been through *that* Tumblr phase. It is a rejection of all that is pink, fluffy, and youthful. You've discarded your childhood faves. Your blue glitter eyeshadow is in the bin and you sold your groovy chick bag at the car boot sale so you could put the money towards a pair of Jeffrey Campbell Litas or an American Apparel skirt. You are desperately trying to cultivate an aura of mystique by solely drinking black coffee and posting β€˜aesthetic’ pics of white girls with dark lipstick smoking cigarettes on your black and white photo blog. You've just watched 500 days of Summer and are now hoping some pale disillusioned boy will strike up a conversation in a lift about The Smiths. You want to buy a vintage typewriter to type out Alex Turner lyrics a la Submarine, but you settle for using Courier in a Word doc to pen your dramatic diary entries. You aren't like other girls. Except you exactly are and that's cool and okay.

Tumblr Music History Tumblr af Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5qMOoyViDRJeEjOB9Jlcml?si=48ea95e7d9ff457f By the end of 2014, 13 % of people with internet access between the ages of 16 - 24 were active users of online blogging platform Tumblr. To say that Tumblr was a cultural phenomenon would be an understatement; it was the perfect storm of teen angst and unregulated internet access. Soft grunge aesthetics and alternative music dominated, with apathetic femme fatales such as Lana Del Ray and Electra Heart-era Marina and the Diamonds (Teen Idle, track 1) becoming icons for a generation of teen girls who felt like they didn’t belong. Florence and the Machine (What the Water Gave Me, track 3), Little Comets (Isles, track 6) and Lorde (Tennis Court, track 4) epitomised the desire to simultaneously live out early iterations of the cottagecore witchy lifestyle, while still dreaming of leaving small town suburbia or inner-city poverty to make something of ourselves. Gone were the days of idolising bubblegum pop stars - on Tumblr, being different was king. The Neighbourhood (Sweater Weather, track 5) and Foster the People (Helena Beat, track 2) gave us moody black and white aesthetics and made songs perfect for staring out of a backseat car window, the protagonists of our own indie movies. Gifs from Wes Anderson films and typewriter font excerpts from John Green books taught us that a brooding, romantic boy had been under our nose the entire time, ready to sweep us off our feet, tell us we were special. We in turn responded by listening to indie’s crooners such as Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys (The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, track 7) and Matt Shultz of Cage the Elephant (Cigarette Daydreams, track 9) and fantasised that one day someone would write great poetry like this about us. Though Tumblr was a platform where teenagers were able to express themselves free from the watchful eye of adults, it wasn’t without its flaws. Manic pixie dream girls wearing American Apparel were the beauty standard and were overwhelmingly white and thin and a lack of regulation on the platform meant pro-ED blogs were able to thrive. POC didn’t fit in with the black and white soft grunge aesthetic and the majority of music that sound tracked the platform excluded artists of colour. Themes of cultural divide and fitting into this white world as a WOC are discussed by Mitski, one of few non-white artists able to break onto the platform, in β€˜Your Best American Girl’ (track 8). For all its shortfalls, the Tumblr-era gave many teens who wouldn’t have otherwise had a platform a space to express themselves. It gave many of us our first introduction to feminism, to LGBTQ+ friendly spaces, and gave those of us who felt somewhat β€˜other’ in day-to-day life a place to fit in. It let us know that other people were feeling the way we were feeling, and this confused teen angst is perhaps best summed up with the line β€œI’ve been hating everything...now everything’s embarrassing” in Tumblr icon Sky Ferreira’s β€˜Everything is Embarrassing (track 10).

1) Teen Idel-MARINA 2) Helena Beat- Foster The People 3) What the water gave me- Florence + The Machine 4) Tennis Court- Lorde 5) Sweater Weather- The Neighbourhood 6) Isles- Little Comets 7) The hellcat Spangled Shalalala- Artic Monkeys 8) Your best American Girl- Mitski 9) Cigarette Daydreams- Cage The Elephant 10)Everything is embarrassing- Sky Ferreira

Riot grrl: You've earned yourself the title of 'that feminist girl' and your family think you are a 'bit women's lib'. Maybe it was that poem you wrote on catcalling or maybe it was that time you asked to learn about women revolutionaries in A level history. But it's cool cos everyone in the English department loves you. Fishnets and Doc Martens are your staple and Bikini Kill provides the soundtrack to your feminine rage as you stomp around your small rural village. You mostly stay in your poster-covered box room blasting Rebel girl and making another zine calling for the destruction of the patriarchy: you truly believe the revolution will start in your childhood bedroom. At this point your feminism is in its baby phase. It's individualistic and centred around what specifically affects you in your 17-18 naivety, but don't worry babe as we all start somewhere.

Riot Grrl Music History Riot Grrrl Energy Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Q8YHsrhzHQ2q9vQZO cewX?si=99095ad6188943de Riot Grrrl was born in protest to the rampant misogyny present in the 90s Seattle grunge scene. Trailblazers including Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre and Jen Smith of Bratmobile called for a ’Girl Riot’ in response to increasing violence and hostility against women within the grunge and punk scenes - with teenage girls and young women at the forefront of the movement. Music and lyrics were DIY at their core and influenced heavily by punk icons of previous decades including Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex (Oh Bondage! Up Yours!, track 1) and Joan Jett of The Runaways (Cherry Bomb, track 4). As the 00s were ushered in, and the DIY stylings of garage punk fell out of the charts in favour of more heavily produced pop and dance, artists including Peaches (Boys Wanna Be Her, track 5) kept the punk message of Riot Grrrl alive with harder beats and bigger production. This influence can still be seen in modern female lead punk bands including Slutever (Maggot, track 3) and The Regrettes (Poor Boy, track 8) who blend the Riot Grrrl DIY approach with more contemporary punk sounds. Social media is partially to thank for the huge resurgence in popularity Riot Grrrl has seen in the 20s, with bands including Le Tigre (Deceptacon, track 9) seeing their music go viral on Tiktok. The boom in popularity of Riot Grrrl on social media has also piqued the interest of (corporate, male-led) recording companies, hoping to capitalise on the genre. Manufactured punk however simply does not work and the complete rejection of suspected industry plant girl group The Tramp Stamps on social media highlights that at its core, Riot Grrrl is about authenticity.

Riot Grrrl has always been synonymous with controversy. The genre is historically dominated by white women, with some big names in the genre making it abundantly clear that their β€˜feminism’ is not intersectional. Despite this, Riot Grrrl is at its heart a rebellion against inequality, and a new generation of POC-led punk and queercore bands including Black Ends (Monday Mourning, track 2), Big Joanie (Fall Asleep, track 7) and LA-based rockers the Linda Lindas (Monica, track 6), who you may recognise for their viral performance of β€˜Racist, Sexist Boy’, are helping to return this genre to its anarchic roots. The inherent rebellion against a patriarchal system that defines Riot Grrrl could not be more abundantly clear than in UK supergroup Solidarity Not Silence’s β€˜This is Sisterhood’ (track 10), which aims to raise money for women who spoke out against an abuser and are now fighting a defamation case. With the opening monologue read by Riot Grrrl founding mother Kathleen Hanna and cries of β€œWe will not shut up, he can’t silence us”, Solidarity Not Silence loudly call out the patriarchal establishment that inspired the genre and remind us that there is power in sisterhood.

1) Oh Bondage up Yours- X-rays Spx 2) Monday Mourning- Black Ends 3) Maggot- Slutever 4) Cherry Bomb- The Runaways 5) Boys wanna be her- Peaches 6) Monica- The Linda Lindas 7) Fall Asleep- Big Joanie 8) Poor boy- The Regrettes 9) Deceptacon- Le Tigre 10) This is Sisterhood- Solidarity Not Silence, The Tuts, Petrol Girls, Kathleen Hanna, Colour Me Wednesday, Personal Best

Article Recommendations Libby Copeland- β€˜Is Diet Soda Girly? Marketing Companies take on gender contamination, the idea that when women flock to a product, men flee’ https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/08/gender-contamination-when-women-buy-aproduct-men-flee.html Brodie Lancaster- β€˜Pop Music, Teenage Girls and the Legitimacy of Fandom’ https://www.google.com/amp/s/pitchfork.com/thepitch/881-pop-music-teenage-girlsand-the-legitimacy-of-fandom/amp/ Julie Clarke, β€˜Let’s Here it for the girls’ https://medium.com/the-public-ear/lets-hear-it-for-the-girls-e9afa92ab9f0 Katrine MarΓ§al- β€˜Meeting Harry Styles and what it taught me about "gender contamination" in business’ https://wealthofwomen.substack.com/p/meeting-harry-styles-and-what-it Kayleigh Watson- β€˜Five on it: we stand with Solidarity Not Silence, which shouldn’t have to exist in 2021; https://gal-dem.com/five-on-it-solidarity-not-silence/ Jon Blistein-β€˜Kathleen Hanna Joins U.K. Group Solidarity Not Silence for New Song β€˜This Is Sisterhood’ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/kathleen-hanna-solidarity-notsilence-this-is-sisterhood-1164718/ Lauren O’Neill- β€˜Huns Weigh In on Hun Culture’ https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7mwj3/hun-culture-uk-britain-internet-phenomenoncelebrity-fashion-v28n1 Statista Research Department- β€˜Share of global internet users actively using Tumblr as of 4th quarter 2014, by age group’ https://www.statista.com/statistics/382051/tumblr-global-user-age/ Brittany Spanos- β€˜Watch Teen Punk Band the Linda Lindas Ether β€˜Racist Sexist Boy’ in Scorching Library Concert’

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/linda-lindas-racist-sexist-boybikini-kill-1173054/

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