by Carrie Brownstein

I just wanted to point out this amazing thing that happened:

Over at Tobi Vail's fabulous blog, Jigsaw, there is a review of the new book Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music by Marisa Meltzer. In her review, Vail writes:

My hope is that teenage girls and young women who don't know this history will get inspired to find out about riot grrl. It would be really cool if it inspired girls to create a new young feminist movement rooted in their generation.

The book made me think a lot about documenting history from a strategic perspective. How could this story be told to incite participation in girls? A big part of the original "girl power" idea was to get girls to stop being consumers of male-dominated culture and start producing our own. I guess my fear is that this kind of pop-culture history could encourage girls to simply consume "girl-culture," thereby claiming the identity of "riot grrl" or "feminism" through the act of buying a record, as opposed to starting their own band or fanzine or putting on a show. To me, the point is to encourage girls to start their own young feminist movement, not just to copy what we did.

And as I was reading those words, I recalled that just yesterday, a friend had forwarded me a link to the blog Style Rookie, wherein a young Tavi Gevinson wrote, in response to reading Girl Power:

Never before had I felt that feminism was something I could be so much a part of. It sounds like I'm talking about being part of the Riot Grrrl movement itself, but really, just the history of it, and the fact that it even existed, makes me very excited, and proud to be a girl, and to be who I am.

I really do think [Girl Power] is something everyone — whether or not you were there, whether or not you identify yourself as a feminist, whether you're a boy or girl — should read. It's something I'll remember... the day after I finished, I proposed the idea of a feminists' club to our grade principal, and after writing up a formal proposal, I hope it gets going.

Read Tavi's entire post here.

Personally, I can't say whether or not you need to read this book — I haven't yet had a chance to read the entire thing — but I am very excited that Vail's hope for the book, one that I share, might come true. And Tavi is the kind of person who won't just rehash or borrow, simplify or commodify riot grrl; she'll likely redesign, rename and revamp the whole thing.

Lastly, if you haven't already been following Tavi's blog, you should. She's a total powerhouse with a keen artistic vision, acumen and voice. Oh, and she's 13 years old.

You can find Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music at Powells.com.