Welcome to Litsy!

A gripping, eye-opening memoir by feminist punk singer-songwriter Kathleen Hanna. She says: “Male violence didn‘t create me, it just made it harder to make my art, but I did it anyway.” And did she ever have to face a lot of male violence! I didn‘t listen to Bikini Kill or Le Tigre, but when Hanna talks about her musical influences like Joan Jett and Yaz, that brought me back to my youth. Audiobook performed by the author.

We were in our early 20s and still called each other girl. We were reading Carol Gilligan‘s book about how at age 11 some girls experience a moment of resistance in which they are brave and confident, but by the time they are 16 they are saying “I don‘t know” all the time. Selfishly, I just wanted to relive my own childhood, and win this time, which is why I started wearing Girl Scout uniforms with combat boots.

Maybe the struggle for language was the moment we were trapped in. Why were we always expected to answer ignorant questions with thoughtful articulate answers? Why were we always explaining ourselves? Maybe that was what third wave girls were about: speaking back to power with sounds that didn‘t always make sense.

Exactly as described. I appreciate Hanna‘s candour, emotional intelligence, and critical self reflection. What a wild life!

I love a less than 24-hour read. B you should read it 🤪. Ps why are the filters on this app so much better than IG

The trauma and truth this woman tells is intense. As a feminist punk librarian, I see some of my naive ideals and dangerous mistakes in what Kathleen Hanna is writing. We wanted to change the world and solve it all at 20 something.