User:ArmatageRush/sandbox

Liz's Wiki Practice

Women in punk rock

I have chosen this subject and began researching the question, "How has women's involvement in the punk rock movement changed since punk's inception in the late 1970's and how has this influenced social and political realms?"

The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 allowed women equal access to jobs as their male counterparts in the United Kingdom. Many men thought that this put them at a loss and felt that women were taking away positions that traditionally belonged to men. This, in addition to the election of Margaret Thatcher, lead many young women who felt disenfranchised to turn to the up-and-coming music scene known as punk rock. The Sex Pistols are often regarded as the pioneers of this subculture of rock and roll.

Green Day's front-man, Billie Joe Armstrong, performs at an American Idiot era concert.

Annotated Bibliography (Women in Punk Rock Contribution)

1. This article details the early stages of women's involvement in punk rock, starting in Great Britain. Most of the push for a feminist movement in the punk subculture took place in the late 1970's as a response to the male-dominated mainstream rock scene. The author continues by making some comparisons between male and female aspects of punk rock and how the feminist movement has developed over the following decades into today. Margaret Thatcher had a divisive impact within the female-lead punk community; some felt that she empowered women. Others, however, believed that she was a bad representation of their gender since she was known for her aggressive tactics. This administration fueled the punk scene, in a sense. Since punk has its roots in Great Britain, I am using this source to contribute to the "history" section of my topic's article. It is important to see how girls first entered the genre in order to detail the complete history of women in punk rock. The information from this source is considered to be credible since it comes from an academic journal. I found the journal through EBSCO Academic Search Complete, which is a resource recommended by my university's library. Additionally, Helen Reddington (the author), seems to focus her career on the relationship between various musical genres and the politics of a specific time. She seems to have been well-informed on the topic, judging by her other pieces of literature.
2. The Sex Pistols are often referred to as the pioneers of punk rock. Rooted in the U.K., I thought it would be important to mention their contributions to the genre prior to introducing the female movement. This article refers to the Pistols as the group to bring punk rock into the spotlight and spread it across the Atlantic Ocean. It provides evidence for their power and for their embodiment of the genre by telling stories of how they act in real life encounters, as well as on stage. This piece also discusses their first tour in America. I found this article via Google News. Since it is pulled from Time Magazine, it can be assumed that the information is fairly credible; Time is a well-known and widely-accepted American magazine that covers events from all content areas. Although it is not as detailed as an academic journal would be, it is a trustworthy source that has existed for nearly a century now.
3. A less formal piece, this editor's note in a women's issues journal provides a more personal perspective of female integration into the punk subculture. The author mentions how she became interested in punk and punk guys, yet she noticed there were not enough women being represented. So, she sought the women out. She provides valuable examples of female-headed bands that I have used to contribute to my topic's article. Additionally, this source provides insight into the American (Los Angeles) punk scene. So, it adds variety to the punk scenes that I can edit. This piece is an editor's note pulled from a women's-issues specific journal. The note appears to comply with Wikipedia's standards of neutrality and presents information in a useful manner. I cannot find much information on the author of this piece though, so I will be skeptical of her credibility in my usage of this article. This information and article was obtained through EBSCO Academic Search Complete.
4. This source touches on Riot Grrrl, which was the major feminist punk rock movement in the 1990's. During this era, women began to feel disenfranchised because much of society felt that feminism had run its course. Yet, inequalities based on gender still persisted. Riot Grrrl was more than just a musical scene. Its foundation laid in independently-published zines that covered all aspects of women's counter-culture (poetry, music, art, etc.). Since punk as a whole is more of a culture than a genre, I will use this source to edit the "Riot Grrrl" section on Wikipedia and portray it as a such. I can also contribute to the history of this particular movement, since the article broadly covers this. The author (Francesca Lewis) and the journal (Curve) both have feminist perspectives. So, a bias in that direction may exist. However, this is a source that was found through an academic database approved for women and gender studies research. The database is known as Contemporary Women's Issues (CWi).
5. I found this source via my university's card catalog. The novel is published by Rutgers University Press, which is an academic-aimed publisher. The author, Lauraine Leblanc, received her PhD in women's studies from Emory University. The credibility of this source seems to be valid. In the book, Leblanc makes the argument for punk rock as a form of feminism. Young girls began to enter a male-dominated music scene and defy traditionally feminine values. Punk women would often sport short hair, baggy/ripped t-shirts, jeans, and other styles associated with masculine dress. The source argues that this phenomenon is a kind of social justice movement for women. Leblanc comes to this conclusion by piecing together her own experience in the punk scene with the experiences of 40 other women from across the U.S. and part of Canada, who she interviewed for this book. I will utilize this source in my main contribution,since it covers the portion of history in which women first entered the punk rock scene. I will also use this source to contribute to the Riot Grrrl Section, in order to draw a comparison between Riot Grrrl and other punk-influenced social movements.
6. Seal Press is a publisher whose goal is to keep women informed about the issues and news that concerns females directly. Maria Raha, the author of this source, is a specialist in rock music. She has worked for several major magazine publications, including Spin Magazine. She is known to cover many artists from various underground music scenes. Based on her knowledge of the subject and the publisher's credentials, this is a fairly credible source. In this book, Maria Raha focuses on women who dominated the punk rock scene from start to present. Raha covers many artists that are already included in the Women in Punk Rock article, such as Joan Jett and Exene Cervenka. However, not much coverage is given to these women who basically created or altered the female punk rock culture within the article. In the novel, however, there is a lot of substance that I could use to elaborate upon the existing contributions. Additionally, there are artists mentioned in this book that are not discussed in the current article, such as the members of L7 or Sleater-Kinney. So, I will add these artists into their respective decades (1980's, 1990's).
7. I had the opportunity to view this documentary in Berkeley, California back in August of 2017. The film focuses on various punk rock and underground bands that came out of the San Francisco bay area in the 1980's, 1990's and beyond. One section of the movie is devoted to girl groups and feminist bands from that region. I used this information to edit the article on women in punk rock. Specifically, I edited the "Riot Grrrl" section by referencing some groups that responded to the riot grrrl movement, such as Spitboy. Much of the information presented in this documentary comes from first-hand accounts of the scene via interviews and live footage. The production company, Capodezero Films, specializes in documentary-style films. The source is fairly credible since most of the scene/era was caught on camera.
8. This article is another source I found via EBSCO Academic Search Complete. The author, Dr. Deborah Kennedy of Saint Mary's University, is an English professor who details the evolution of women in punk rock from Patti Smith to new artists, such as Paramore or Miley Cyrus. While Miley is not necessarily a punk rock musician, Dr. Kennedy stresses that punk is more about breaking down societal boundaries than it is about participating in the genre itself. Simply put, punk is a state of mind. For this reason, Kennedy describes traditionally punk artists (Patti Smith and Joan Jett), but also mentions mainstream female musicians/singers, like Madonna and Celine Dion. I plan on utilizing this information in order to fuse my contribution with the existing "history" section of Women in Punk Rock, since that contribution focuses on women in popular genres of music. Dr. Kennedy argues that both the women of popular music and the women of punk rock are vital to breaking down social constructions.