Revenge of the She Punks

Revenge of the She-Punks: A Feminist Music History from Poly Styrene to Pussy Riot by Vivien Goldman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Title notwithstanding…this is not about anyone’s revenge but it offers a packed and relatively wide-ranging history of the role of women in punk rock. It is written by one of its participants. Vivien Goldman played in Chantage and the Flying Lizards and now she writes about music and teaches Punk, Afrobeat and Reggae at New York University.

The book is set up around track listings with the stories that shape the songs. It is grouped into 4 categories: Girl Identity. Money, Love and Protest. The idea of Punk being uniquely suited to feminism belies the fact that for much of its history, many of the same factors that work against women in the greater world outside are also very much at play in the punk scene--only in punk there is an avenue for self-expression not readily available elsewhere.

At 200 pages, it reads like a long zine or a short documentary.




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