Hanna, Kathleen

Kathleen Hanna (1968–), a third wave feminist musician, writer, and activist was born in Portland, Oregon. She is one of the cofounders of the Riot Grrrl band Bikini Kill and later, Le Tigre (both of which have disbanded). In 1998, she released one solo album under the name Julie Ruin, and later she founded and performed in a band called The Julie Ruin, with bandmate Kathi Wilcox of Bikini Kill. She is a feminist activist, musician, zine writer, and key figure in the Riot Grrrl movement of the early 1990s. Her albums include Bikini Kill's Revolution Girl Style Now! (1991), Kill Rock Stars (1991), Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (with Huggy Bear, 1993), Pussy Whipped (1993), and Reject All American (1996). Her other projects include Suture, A Wonderful Treat, Real Fiction, and Viva Knieval. She has also collaborated with feminist music icon Joan Jett.

Hanna recalls “becoming” a feminist at the age of nine, when her mother took her to a rally in Washington, D.C., where they heard Gloria Steinem speak. She and her mother enjoyed reading and making montages and collages with pictures and statements that they felt empowered women. They often took inspiration and material from Steinem's Ms. magazine. In rare interviews, Hanna has stated that her father disapproved of her and her mother's associations with the feminist movement for solidarity, possibly a source of dispute that caused her parents to divorce when she was still young.

Hanna is also known for her other associations, which include the Fakes zines, such as Grrrl Power and Girl Gems. Hanna was involved with a women's [Page 159]cooperative and eventually opened her own gallery space, Reko Muse. While working at the co-op, she met the musicians from the popular band Nirvana, who would come to play benefit shows for the co-op. Hanna and the band developed a close working relationship, for which the members of Nirvana extended their gratitude by using Hanna as the inspiration for their hit song “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Hanna's work at the co-op inspired her to start playing music. She also worked at one time as a stripper and at a shelter with a group of teenage victims of sexual assault. Reflecting on her experiences, Hanna states, “I want to talk about power and privilege in complex ways, recognizing that there is such a thing as privilege that's just given to certain people. There's also earned privilege.” Hanna and her friends quickly became bored with the male-dominated music industry, in particular the punk rock scene, which privileged boys and men and objectified and commodified the girls and women. Speaking out on this, Hanna has stated that she felt “completely left out of the realm of everything that is so important to me. And I know that this is partly because punk rock is for and by boys mostly and partly because punk rock of this generation is coming of age in a time of mindless career-goal bands.”

Forming their own band called Bikini Kill (named after a zine the members had created), Hanna and her bandmates found the perfect place to begin creating their own music with their own tone, musicality, performances, shows, and lyrics. Soon after the formation of Bikini Kill, the group became associated and incorporated into the infamous Olympia, Washington, music scene. At the time, this scene was known for its grassroots political activism, local support, and do-it-yourself (DIY) attitude, which also largely characterized feminist punk music in the early 1990s. Bikini Kill also included Billy “Boredom” Karren on guitar, Tobi Vail on drums and vocals, and Kathi Wilcox on guitar and bass. However, Bikini Kill was against the process of “specialization” in their music—all members tried to trade off on instruments and vocals to avoid elitism in the band.

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