Bikini Kill

Bikini Kill, the two zines, were published in 1990 and 1991 and created by the members (mainly Kathleen Hanna) of the epicentre riot grrrl band, Bikini Kill. Condensing the spirit of their music and ethos, the zines are a compendium of both personal and manifesto writing, thoughts on music, prejudices, violence, feminism, grassroots and intimate activism, all reappropriating the cut, paste, and scribble punk aesthetic in the same girly vein other zines like Jigsaw or Girl Germs.

Issue #1 of Bikini Kill, A color and activity book can be fully read online through artzines. Some pages of issue #2 Girl Power are featured on The riot grrrl collection and the now classic Riot Grrrl Manifesto published in it can be read online through History is a weapon.

BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.

BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other’s work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each other.

BECAUSE we must take over the means of production in order to create our own meanings. (Kathleen Hanna)

Some relevant articles to understand the importance of Bikini Kill and other zines in the riot grrrl movement:

• Do-It-Yourself Girl Power: An Examination of the Riot Grrrl Subculture
• The Personal, Political, and a Little Bit of Everything Else: Girls, Grrrls and Perzines
• Grrrl Zine Networks: Re-Composing Spaces of Authority, Gender, and Culture (UAL login required)
• Riot Grrrl: Revolutions from within (UAL login required)

Our collection holds a copy of Bikini Kill #2 Girl Power in Folder 51: Library Catalogue.