You Know You’re a Child of Second Wavers If…

Great Women Playing Cards

This game sat next to Chutes and Ladders, LIFE and Careers.

 

The Mountain Goats, Indie Music’s ’90s-Woman-est Band

Mountain Goats, Bowery Ballroom, March 28, 2011

Writing for newspapers and magazines lo these last 15 or so years, I have interviewed many famous people, lots of them super hot. But to date, probably the swooniest I ever got was during a 2005 Q&A with the Mountain Goats.

John Darnielle praised feminism, pop music, and marriage. He said wise ’90s-womanly things like, on Andrea Dworkin:

She was really messed up in a lot of ways, but also brave enough to say, “Is it possible that the bedrock of our sexuality is essentially violent?” The simple answer is, “Of course not, because I enjoy myself. What’s not to like there?” Well it takes a big person to go, “Maybe we enjoy ourselves because we’re damaged.”

The Persecution of Rebecca Black

Rob Sheffield has already said everything funny there is to say about Rebecca Black’s “Friday.” So it’s time to look at this phenomenon from the ’90s Woman perspective, and that is:

WTF is so scary about an ambitious thirteen-year-old girl?

Feminist Narratives and Mainstream Media

Yesterday at the Post I worked on this story about Charlie Sheen’s date (who was left cowering naked in the bathroom as he tore apart the hotel room). The angle actually wound up being pretty nuanced and sympathetic. I especially like this quote from her Twitter page:

In a Fourth of July response to someone who criticized her, she lashed out online: “I’ve been to the Middle East and to England, Ireland, Spain, the DR and many other places — My parents came to this country with nothing, and today I reserve the right to a career that allows me enough wages to take care of myself and not rely on my 74-year-old father who works three jobs to support our family. You’re IGNORANT.”

It’s not Ms., but, you know, baby steps.

Here’s the article.

Is the Rihanna-Eminem Video Pre- or Post-’90s Feminist Awakening?

Feministing is not feeling the Rihanna-Eminem song “Love the Way You Lie,” which is #1 on Billboard right now. Nor is Broadsheet. A tween feminist I’m friends with on Facebook posted about how pissed off she was that Eminem got to sing on the radio about tying a woman to the bed and setting her on fire and I was like, she is totally right.

Now I don’t know, though. The video is starting to make me think there’s more going on here. Rihanna (post-Chris Brown attack and subsequent awesome interviews about domestic violence) and Eminem (post-songs about throwing the mother of his child into a trunk and subsequent awesome interviews about how gay marriage should be legal) stand outside a burning house contemplating this hot couple (Megan Fox!) trapped in a cycle of violence.

Feminist Zines at the MoMA!

Kara, when we started doing this blog, we were talking about how it was so weird how we thought this major feminist movement happened in the ’90s  but no one ever talked about it. We were starting to wonder if we dreamed it. But now suddenly people are talking about it all over the place! Fancy people! Like the MoMA, which Kathleen just linked to. They have all these zines now!  Check it out!

Did this all just start happening, or did we just start noticing because we have been on the lookout for stuff about the ’90s? Either way, I feel so validated.

L7′s Pretend We’re Dead

Thank you for the Lilith report! I agree that it is not very ’90s to charge for condoms. Neal just sent us this video. He was super into L7 and Seven Year Bitch. Have I mentioned before that my husband was a better 90s Woman than me? Anyway, I probably would have liked them if I had known about them, but I did not because I was too busy chain-smoking and listening to Pavement and reading zines and sleeping around. This video is fun and I especially like that she gets a little naked at the end. End-of-song falling-apart and nudity? ’90s Woman City.

Testimony: Buzz-Cuts for Women!

Amelia Abreu, a PhD Candidate at The Information School in Seattle (talk about authentic!) writes in:

Something so 90s has occurred to me recently that I feel compelled to share. The buzz cut for girls (and this sort of intriguing self-confidence/self conscious hot-to-trotness that came with it) seemed very ubiquitous in my 90s college/high school years. Recently, having moved from Seattle (which is like forever 90s) to Cambridge, MA (which is like forever college), I’ve encountered a slew of baldheaded young women. Is this coming back? Did it ever leave?

Very ’90s Woman, Scotland!

Broadsheet has a nice analysis. Thanks, Brendan, for the tip!

I Feel Like There’s a 90s Woman Story Behind This eBay Listing

When I was fifteen, my bookshelf looked kind of like this. LOT OF 12 BOOKS WOMEN’S SPIRITUALITY GODDESS FEMINISM