In yet another example of why I'm glad I'm a favorite aunt/godmother and not a parent, the good folks at Portland's Rock N Roll Camp For Girls are in trouble for sending campers home with Bikini Kill cassettes. As you might recall, Bikini Kill put the rad in radical when in comes to riot grrrl, and lyrical content does include a lot of f-words, graphic imagery of violence against women, and well, anger about it. One mom is freaking out to television cameras. Across the femiblogosphere, people are talking - The ladies at the Three Imaginary Girls blog defend the camp while Jessica Hopper says that Bikini Kill might be a bit much for an eight year old.I'm conflicted. I believe that music is transformative. I think that especially for pre-teen and teenage girls, music can be a lifeline, an outlet of expression in a world that seems poised to crush them from all angles. But... the prospect of some uncomfortable conversations with my nieces and nephew makes me think they're still a little young for Bikini Kill. Like many great artists, Bikini Kill uses satire and sarcasm liberally, and young children don't often have those skills developed yet. "Rebel Girl" is, in my opinion, one of the best songs ever written about female friendship, and the power of embracing your differences. I'm just not certain that pre-teens are sophisticated enough to understand the reclaiming of words like "whore" and "dyke" - and more so, I'm not sure I want eight year olds to be that sophisticated. Without knowing what was on the mix tapes that the campers went home with, it's hard to make any real judgements, but this story does raise some interesting issues and conflicted feelings for feminist parents.
What do you think? Would you let your pre-teen listen to Bikini Kill?
No comments:
Post a Comment