Riot Grrrl:
Yes, but what is anti-fashion?
Riot Grrl: What does anti-fashion actually mean - both for alternative fashion and for society as a whole?
The darkly dreaming world of child pageantry
Riot Grrl: Beauty pageants have always been a subject of controversy when it comes to women's rights. Beauty pageants are seen as blatant objectification of women as sexual objects, admired for their physical appeal yet downgraded to something less than human. The controversy is increased tenfold when the focus is not on women but on little girls...
Annie Sprinkle: Post porn Feminist
Riot Grrl: Frank Zappa said: "Annie Sprinkle, America is better for your efforts." Annie Sprinkle is an ex stripper, ex prostitute, feminist porn activist artist. She heals us through controversial performances on the theme of sexuality. She's the sort of person that makes you glad to be a person. Annie Sprinkle, we salute you.
Read this article: Annie Sprinkle: Post porn Feminist
The choice to live child-free
Grrl: Regulars will know Mookychick is pro (loving) motherhood, but here's a personal account and manifesto of a person who has decided to live as a child-free woman. Pro-choice = HURRAH!
To write love on her arms
Grrl: 'To write love on her arms' sounds like a cutter's motto, but TWLOHA are dedicated to making every single person going through the blackest moment in their lives have the strength to pick up a phone, meet a counsellor or find meaning in their lives. We like them. We don't ever want to see a spate of suicides like Bridgend (23 suicides in a quiet little Welsh town in 2008) ever again.
Women, The Vote, and 2010
Riot Grrl: Clare Boothe Luce said, "Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn't have what it takes.' They will say, 'Women don't have what it takes.' Why is it so important for women to vote in 2010?
College: Boot camp for the real world
Grrl: Robert Ingersoll said that "college is a place where pebbles are polished and diamonds dimmed". Well, hey, little diamond. Treat college as a boot camp for life and you'll only end up shining all the brighter...
Losing your protest virginity
Activism: Go alone, or bring a friend? Thalia addresses this and other questions (Keep it legal? Protest panic?) on her first ever protest march...
Will you lose your favourite magazine?
Society: Things are, especially if you live in Britain, pretty crappy at the moment. We're in the middle of a global recession and our government is crumbling away in front of our very eyes. Inked, Kerrang and all those lovely shiny magazines can make it all better. But can they last?
Read this article: Will you lose your favourite magazine?
Virgin voting - But what exactly is going to change?
Politics: With the country ripping its gizzards out with financial scandals and whatnot, our first-time voter looks at the three main UK parties and what they say they believe in. National policy? Foreign policy? Is there any difference between the parties at all?
Read this article: Virgin voting - But what exactly is going to change?
Queer mutiny
Activism: Queer mutiny is about redefining a movement. Are you Queer without knowing it? Now you don't have to be LGBT to be Queer.
Read this article: Queer mutiny
Yes... But is it feminist?
Riot Grrl: A call to action. Has Mookychick's feminist message become diluted over the years? Is "Siblings are doing it for everyone" a better, though less catchy, ethos than "sisters are doing it for themselves"? This is a jolly important article and we hugely respect the message in it. Please read it with your eyes.
Read this article: Yes... But is it feminist?
"Fish Are Plants and Other Myths" - the fish-eating 'vegetarian'
Vegetarianism: Emma-Jayne is tired of explaining to waiters in restaurants that a fish is an animal. She looks at pescatarians and vegetarians and asks why there is no such thing as a "fish-eating vegetarian".
Read this article: "Fish Are Plants and Other Myths" - the fish-eating 'vegetarian'
Read more: Opinion
Girl guides, third wave feminism and beyond
La Femme est Forte: You don't need to know what a third-wave feminist is to feel you are one. It all starts in primary school, when that first boy answers an argument on gender position in society by calling you a big pineapple head...
Read this article: Girl guides, third wave feminism and beyond
Protect and survive
Campaigning: The eighties, god bless them, weren't all lace bows and pop socks. In honour of how close to WW3 in 1983 we really were, Mookychick reprints a scary-scary leaflet from the 1980s called 'Protect and Survive'. If you were a child of the eighties, forget the bogeyman – The Bomb was the bogeyman. Let's admit the Bogeyman exists - then put him back in the closet.
Financial assistance for pregnancy and mothers
Society: Becoming a parent can be an expensive business. However, there are a number of grants and benefits for new parents that you might be able to apply for. From child benefit to food vouchers, we look at ways for UK mothers to get financial aid...
Female sexuality and the Extreme Pornography Act
Society: Sexual arousal is a beautiful thing: You go about your day and then something a little bit kinky pops into your head. Hurrah! You may be pro sexual arousal, and anti-pornography. Lovely. No problem. But there's a potentially nasty and sour lemon-mouthed little thing called the Extreme Pornography Act, and Kate Morrison digs a bit deeper...
Is super-sizing the problem super-shrinking the people?
Society: Language gives away a lot about the state of society and the people in it. We have words for fat. We have words for super-fat. We label some things, and not others. Should the world turn into a nanny state that labels everything it can get its greedy, mollycoddled hands on? Or do we need to draw a line, and start taking some real responsibility for our actions?
Heroine Chic - Grrl icons for 2008/9
Riot Grrl: Tina Fey ridiculing Sarah Palin... Laura Marling bringing us her indi-folk-pop... Hillary Clinton giving it some grr... 2008 was a good year for women. And 2009 looks set to be even better...
29 Ways to find yourself
Self development: The wise philosopher Heraclitus once said that sea water is good for fishes and bad for men. Only you can find yourself, really. But - you never know - these 29 (sod 30, the number 30 is so overrated) pointers might help you find joy and happiness. It's your own personal journey, baby. Bon voyage!
How to survive being teased for being alternative at school
Self development: If you are an alternative dude/dudette and love it, but the others around you at school aren't, you can rarely change other people's actions - especially if they're teasing you mercilessly - but you can change your own. These pointers may help make your life a little easier.
Gay marriage rights - no to Proposition 8
Campaigns: Proposition 8 seeks to overturn California's allowance of gay marriage. Since only 3 US states allow gay marriage in the first place, we can't let the government get away with it.
The Battlefront Project - Support 'Anti Size Zero'
Riot Grrl: Anyone who's watched the film 'The Devil Wears Prada' knows that what you see in fashion magazines is supposed to be aspirational. And that's not just the film; women across the world, consciously or not, aspire to the images of the supposedly perfect women they see in magazines, on the catwalk and on television...
How to call yourself a feminist without biting your own tongue off
Riot Grrl: "I'm not happy being a feminist. It should all be over by now." - Tracey Emin
"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat." - Rebecca West
Don't burn your bra, know the facts. It's time to find out more.
How to call yourself a feminist without biting your own tongue off
A sweet 'lil thing called atheism
Carl Sagan said "Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature." Holly-Rae Smith says she came out as an atheist to a room filled with half the church congregation...
Dealing with an abusive relationship
Opinion: It's comparatively easy to tell someone to walk away from an abusive relationship - it's harder to take a stand and actually do it. Although now on the road to recovery - taking the road less travelled - Miss Anonymous had the bad fortune to end up in an abusive relationship with a death-lover that had legal repercussions.
Winter depression diary - S.A.D.
Welcome to Tamara's month-to-month depression diary. She's suffered from S.A.D. and her mood changes wildly over the year - from anxiety and insecurity in September through to depression in December and mania in January. She got help from loved ones after trying to kill herself. Read more.
S.A.D. seasonal depression diary: The sun has got his hat on...
Sleeping with the Frienemy
The Kat in the Hat argues that at the risk of perpetrating some girl-on-girl crime, sometimes it's important to keep your friends close and your frienemies closer
Ann Coulter - Feminine, Famous, Fascist...
Ann Coulter represents the foxy face of fascism and is getting away with saying incendiary bullshit that her male Republican counterparts would never dare to. She's not bright, she's rude and she's repetitive - so why has she hit the bestseller list 5 times? Prepare to be afraid...
Self-development: Creating courage
We create the world through our decisions. Whether it's being 'creative' but faced with a blank page, or fearing to even risk failure with the unknown cutie across the room, Wendy Withers knows that it's courage, not fearless bravery, that draws us on and makes us take charge of ourselves.
The evolution of 'girl power' in music
From 'girl power' to 'riot grrl' and back again
The Spice Girls coined 'girl power' and it's a fluffy term for a female perspective that deserves to be popularised but not cheapened. Music is a great platform for feminism. From the blues and Motown legends to Riot Grrls like Bikini Kill and modern Power Girls like Beth Ditto, Hayley Foster gives us a short and sweet history of musical girl power.
Riot Grrrl
Read our riot grrrl blog for modern feminist views and empower yourself with feminism, pro choice and more - Mookychick
