Every Sunday, we discuss a woman who inspires us. This week’s shero is Kathleen Hanna. Shelly talked about why Kathleen Hanna is awesome and recommended that we check out the above documentary on the The Herstory of Riot Grrrl. Here’s some information about her from her Wikipedia page:

Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American musician, feminist activist, and punk zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1998, Hanna released a lo-fi solo album under the name Julie Ruin and since 2010 has been working on a project called the Julie Ruin. A documentary film about Hanna was released in 2013 by director Sini Anderson, titled The Punk Singer, detailing Hanna’s life and career, as well as revealing her years-long battle with Lyme disease. Hanna is married to Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys.

Kathleen Hanna is well known for being an outspoken radical feminist; many people often credit her for helping launch third-wave feminism when she helped create the riot grrrl punk movement. At Bikini Kill concerts, Hanna would encourage and enforce that women were to move to the front of the stage to avoid harassment from male concert goers. The “girls to the front” concept was symbolic in helping women feel comfortable at concerts and more welcome to participate. In 1991, Hanna performed with Bikini Kill at the Abortion March in Washington, D.C. before the Planned Parenthood v. Casey trial. She has been a major pro-choice advocate and was quoted saying, “It’s about women not dying in back-alley abortions, but it’s also about women saying: ‘My life is worth it, too. I deserve to have control over my life and my health care.’ Imagine if a man was told, ‘You can’t make the decision to have a vasectomy.'” A key feature to riot grrrl music was to empower and encourage women to appreciate each other and rise against oppressive patriarchy. Kathleen Hanna helped mold that central theme of third-wave feminism through her works and helped to keep the movement documented and alive through video, guarding her legacy in order to preserve the importance of the movement.