You learn that the only way to get rock-star power as a girl is to be a groupie and bare your breasts and get chosen for the night. We learn that the only way to get anywhere is through men. And it’s a lie. – Kathleen Hanna
In terms of men being feminist allies, it’s just important to speak from your own place. I’d love to hear men singing about masculinity and the damage it does to them. – Kathleen Hanna
That’s the great thing about music. You can find some ’60s pop record and feel completely invigorated by it, even though it’s so old. – Kathleen Hanna
It’s now taken for granted that women are in bands and you can say feminist things in your songs. But back in the early ’90s, there was a lot of violence at Bikini Kill shows that people don’t realize happened. – Kathleen Hanna
To make riot grrrl move into the future in a new way with a bunch of new names and a bunch of new energy, younger people have to learn about it and apply it to their own lives and own modern conversation. And they are. – Kathleen Hanna
Women didn’t want to be on the stage with other women because they didn’t want their bodies to be compared. They didn’t want another female act opening for them because of this weird competitive and tokenistic attitude. – Kathleen Hanna
I can’t constantly be trying to write the unwritten song, the song that the 15-year-old girl needs. I need to write the song that I need. – Kathleen Hanna
I’m not a goddess, for crying out loud. I’m a regular person who took feminism – which I have a deep connection to – and mixed it with music, which I really love to do. – Kathleen Hanna
I’m totally into Taylor Swift. I think she has super-clever lyrics, and I love that she writes her own music. Some of the themes she writes about are stuff I wish was there for me when I was in high school, and I’m so happy she really cares about her female fans. She’s not catering to a male audience and is writing music for other girls. – Kathleen Hanna
Certain people are like ‘Oh, here come the Feminazis!’ You end up acting 10 times nicer than you even need to be, to be the opposite of the stereotype like ‘You’re the man haters!’ We’re always bending over backwards being extra nice. And I don’t know if being nice is my legacy. – Kathleen Hanna
I was in a band in the ’90s called Bikini Kill, and we were so freaked out about documentation then, and there was the whole thing, not just about the male gaze, but that people were going to misrepresent you… a kind fear of the mainstream that a lot of us had. – Kathleen Hanna
I always tell girls who say they want to start a band but don’t have any talent, ‘Well, neither do I.’ I mean, I can carry a tune, but anyone who picks up a bass can figure it out. You don’t have to have magic unicorn powers. – Kathleen Hanna
While everyone’s experience of oppression is different and complicated and often overlapping, I really believe that if you have privilege, you need to learn as much as you can about the world beyond yourself. – Kathleen Hanna
Feminism rotates between backlash and interest. And the cool thing about the Internet is that it’s allowing women more access to their own history. Part of the problem before the Internet was that we didn’t know which books to read. Someone had to tell you. – Kathleen Hanna
Find something you really love doing and mix it with something you really care about. That’s why I’ve had such longevity as an artist. I really, really care about ending violence against women, and I really, really love playing music. It’s super enjoyable! – Kathleen Hanna
Since I loved underground music, I tried to carve a space for feminism within it. Those were my hopes. – Kathleen Hanna