The punk is not just for your boyfriend: alternative public sphere, identification processes and testimony in the music scene Riot Grrrl

Abstract

The Riot Grrrl movement started in mid-90s and it consists of girls who use rock as a tool of feminist political struggle. Besides using music as a central element of political identity, this movement is also characterized by the formation of an alternative public sphere (formed by fanzines, blogs and e-zines) that functions both as a way to spread their music and as identification trigger mechanism in relation to their political causes. The aim of this article is to study the instruments that these feminists bands - that deviate from the traditional
feminist political movements - use to create identification with their audience, especially from an empirical research of e-zines published by these bands and from the communicative action of their leaders in social networks. It is possible to note that, despite other identification mechanisms, testimonies works as a socialization link which marks the alternative public sphere composed by publications made by Riot Grrrls. The testimony serves as a powerful arranger of collective identities, since it is presupposed in the recognition of a world in common, allocating identity as performative action.