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Women bring change to punk
Courtesy of The Punk SingerThe road female punk enthusiasts and musicians have to take before they can enjoy or make their mark in the boy-dominated subculture is far from a smooth way ahead
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Courtesy of The Punk Singer" height="511" border="0" width="341">Courtesy of The Punk SingerThe road female punk enthusiasts and musicians have to take before they can enjoy or make their mark in the boy-dominated subculture is far from a smooth way ahead.
Hardcore punk fans will joyfully throw themselves into the mosh pit or take a stage dive at their favorite bandâs concert.
But female fans may just stand at the furthest corner from the stage, concerned that they will be battered by the violent crowd.
Kathleen Hanna of American feminist punk band Bikini Kill brought about a change in the early 1990s. With her commanding presence, the singer ordered the crowd, âGirls up front and boys in the back!â and did not hesitate to kick out misbehaving member of the crowd.
Hanna did more than just that. She wrote and performed songs that addressed sexism and violence against women. Along with other punk musicians, she founded a zine â a self-published booklet circulated in the underground community, called Riot Grrrl.
Over the years, it has evolved into an underground feminist movement that touches people across the globe, including those in Indonesia.
In Jakarta, the Bersama Project gathered Indonesian musicians, artists and academia to share their thoughts of how Hanna and Riot Grrrl changed their perspectives and help bring about changes in their communities.
Launched in July, the Bersama Project is an initiative founded by a group of professionals working in music, filmmaking, fine art, academia to confront violence against women and promote gender equality through music & the arts.
Prior to the event, the Bersama Project in August launched music video clips of Tika and the Dissidents, Bonita & the husBAND, Wonderbra and singer Yacko to promote gender equality.
Public ethnomusicologist Rebekah E. Moore of Bersama Project said they are open to collaborations with artists of various genres. âIn Bersama Project, we try to reach equality through music and art. We are ready to cooperate with any genres.â
Courtesy of The Punk Singer The road female punk enthusiasts and musicians have to take before they can enjoy or make their mark in the boy-dominated subculture is far from a smooth way ahead. Hardcore punk fans will joyfully throw themselves into the mosh pit or take a stage dive at their favorite band's concert. Preceding the discussion was the screening of The Punk Singer, a 2013 documentary that follows Hanna's career and life. In the first zine, for example, Ika wrote an article titled 'Most Wanted: Cewek Underground' (Most Wanted: Underground Girls) to say that the existence of women in the underground scene matters and that they should befriend and make something together. 
But female fans may just stand at the furthest corner from the stage, concerned that they will be battered by the violent crowd.
Kathleen Hanna of American feminist punk band Bikini Kill brought about a change in the early 1990s. With her commanding presence, the singer ordered the crowd, 'Girls up front and boys in the back!' and did not hesitate to kick out misbehaving member of the crowd.
Hanna did more than just that. She wrote and performed songs that addressed sexism and violence against women. Along with other punk musicians, she founded a zine ' a self-published booklet circulated in the underground community, called Riot Grrrl.
Over the years, it has evolved into an underground feminist movement that touches people across the globe, including those in Indonesia.
In Jakarta, the Bersama Project gathered Indonesian musicians, artists and academia to share their thoughts of how Hanna and Riot Grrrl changed their perspectives and help bring about changes in their communities.
Launched in July, the Bersama Project is an initiative founded by a group of professionals working in music, filmmaking, fine art, academia to confront violence against women and promote gender equality through music & the arts.
Prior to the event, the Bersama Project in August launched music video clips of Tika and the Dissidents, Bonita & the husBAND, Wonderbra and singer Yacko to promote gender equality.
Public ethnomusicologist Rebekah E. Moore of Bersama Project said they are open to collaborations with artists of various genres. 'In Bersama Project, we try to reach equality through music and art. We are ready to cooperate with any genres.'
The film's violent moshing pit scene reminded Hera Sin, the vocalist of sludge core band Oath, said of the similar condition in the local punk scene.
'The female punk fans are afraid of being groped when moshing or taking a stage dive,' she said.
'We should remind the crowd to take care of each other and create a safe environment for women in the punk scene.'
Not just the fans, female musicians sometimes face challenges to shine in the male-dominated music scene.
'When I first got into the music in 2006, I was in an all-female band. Once, someone told us 'your band should not take part in this concert, because the audience will be all male',' she said.
'I just responded, 'what's wrong with that. I want to perform anyway'.'
However, not all female musicians take a stand against the discrimination like Hera does. Some will not challenge such discriminatory arrangement and just wait, hoping that someone will invite them to take the stage.
The sour experience, among others, has inspired Hera to make a documentary about the D.I.Y. hardcore punk scene and women due to be released next year.
'This will show female who has existed in the scene for a long time and their feelings of being in this community. I want to show that this community is not bad as people or your parents think.'
The film will feature Ika Vantiani of Peniti Pink Zine Initiatives, who Hera dubbed as the perfect role model in the punk scene.
'If the US has Kathleen Hanna, Indonesia has Ika Vantiani,' Hera claimed.
'She wrote about things daily and called on women to do something. She urged us to stand up and not to be distracted by other people' thoughts,' Hera said, adding that Ika also made articles relating to the hardcore punk's Do-It-Yourself ethics. 
'One of the things about being a woman in the punk scene at that time was [...] 'we should do more'. I always said that to the girls because you can actually do more,' said Ika, who started producing zines since early 2000s, said at the discussion.
Although she is no longer active in the D.I.Y. hardcore punk scene, Ika has made quite an impression in the punk scene with many women follow her path.
Hera said there are female zine writers in, among others, East Java towns of Kediri and Pasuruan as well as in West Java's Bandung.
'Many of zine writers that I interviewed for the film said they were inspired by Ika,' she said.
Singer Kartika Tjahja said that zine, such as Ika's Peniti Pink and Riot Grrrl, could be an effective media to learn about feminism.
'Not all are interested to study feminist theory in a class. But they can learn that simply by reading zine,' she said.
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