Indie Rock and Feminism

A Million Movies a Minute sent us a notice of its latest release, RADICAL ACT. We turned it over to an Indie Rock expert, Peter Jacobson, who sent us this:

Radical Act, a documentary about women in rock, is a reminder of some of the trailblazing musicians who broke ground in the 1990s for women in music and blew open doors for indie rock as we know it now. Filmed in 1995 by Portland filmmaker Tex Clark, Radical Act explores how gender and sexuality informed women in independent rock through interviews with Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill), Toshi Reagon, Gretchen Phillips, Melissa York (Team Dresch/The Butchies), Kim Coletta (Jawbox) and how they saw their experience in a broader context of finding voice and being heard. Erin Donovan, founder of Radical Act’s distribution company notes here that, “It’s incredible how much things have changed in 15 years. The film serves as a reminder of how much women’s access in independent music [sic] as well as pay tribute to the women who knocked down those barriers.”
Flickr stills: http://bit.ly/RadAct

Website: http://www.RadicalActMovie.com

On a related note, Sara Marcus’ book on Riot Grrl *** is just out and garnering raves from music corners. It is a documentation of what must count as Generation X’s most exciting contribution to feminism.

***Riot Grrl is a label for a genre, a movement and an era.

Bikini Kill: early home video:

Visualising Women’s rights in the Arab World

I came across this blog that I enjoyed browsing through and thought it would be of interest to you. It’s not all about the Arab world: the latest post is about a comic book about girls wearing hijab in the US. They’re on twitter, too @VisualRights.

(Thanks, @NMoawad!)

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

As you probably know, the &*%@ Senate Republicans blocked discussion of a bill which would have repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. But it was recently ruled unconstitutional. The Justice Department is currently deciding whether to challenge that ruling or not.

The Courage Campaign is launching a drive to urge them not to appeal. You can sign up to this here.

One in five believe Obama is a cactus

According to a poll released Tuesday, nearly 20 percent of U.S. citizens now believe Barack Obama is a cactus, the most Americans to identify the president as a water- retaining desert plant since he took office.

The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found a sharp rise in the number of Americans who say they firmly believe Obama was either born a cactus, became a cactus during his youth, or has questionable links to the Cactaceae family.

For more, see The Onion.