Episode 19: Freedom for My Body

In 1990s America, progress had a look: diverse casts, school assemblies, glossy Benetton ads, “girl power,” public testimony, and a mainstream culture ready to believe the room was finally getting bigger. But visibility is not the same as power. This episode of The Persistence looks at Anita Hill, the Clarence Thomas hearings, Riot Grrrl, Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna, punk counterpublics, zines, Alice Bag, Sista Grrrl Riots, the Guerrilla Girls, and 1990s feminism to ask what happens when being seen gets mistaken for being safe, believed, funded, protected, or free. From Anita Hill’s televised testimony and the national conversation around sexual harassment, to Riot Grrrl’s DIY networks and “girls to the front,” to the Guerrilla Girls exposing sexism and racism in museum collections, we trace how the 90s gave America powerful images of change, and how those images often left the deeper demand outside the frame. By the time progress had a picture, the demand had already been cropped. And by the time the door looked open, someone still had the key. This episode traces 1990s feminism, visibility politics, Anita Hill’s testimony, the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Riot Grrrl, Bikini Kill, zine culture, punk history, media absorption, the Guerrilla Girls, museum politics, and the gap between representation and power. 🎧 Listen if you’re interested in:1990s history · 90s pop culture · Anita Hill · Clarence Thomas hearings · sexual harassment history · Riot Grrrl · Bikini Kill · Kathleen Hanna · zines · Girls to the Front · punk feminism · Alice Bag · Sista Grrrl Riots · Guerrilla Girls · feminist art · museum politics · representation · girl power Resources For Fellow Wascally Wabbits Books Clarence Thomas—Anita Hill Hearings: October 11, 12, 13, 1991 edited by Anita Miller Confessions of the Guerrilla Girls by The Guerrilla Girls Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus Left of the Dial: Conversations with Punk Icons by David Ensminger Pretty in Punk: Girl's’ Gender Resistance in a Boys’ Subculture by Lauraine Leblanc Punk: NYC 1981-1991 by Ben Nadler Punk Rock: An Oral History by John Robb The Riot Grrl Collection The Riot Grrrl Movement: The Feminism of a New Generation by Cherie Turner Violence Girl by Alice Bag White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race edited by Stephen Duncombe and Maxwell Tremblay “I Hope We Leave More of a Record”: Radical Queer Care within and for the AIDS INFO BBS’s Caregivers Mailing List, Marika Cifor, Claire McDonald, (Feminist Media Histories 1 January 2023; 9 (1), 78–97 p. Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic by Richard A. McKay “Silence From the Great Communicator: The Early Years of the AIDS Epidemic Under the Reagan Administration,” by Jacqueline A. Ortiz, (Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal: 4 (2), 2023), 76-99 p. Links “Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?,” (The Met Collection, The Met) Guerrilla Girls 1985-, (Artists, Art, Whitney Museum of American Art) Guerrilla Girls Archive, (Special Collections, The Getty Research Institute) Other Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill : Public Hearing, Private Pain (PBS Video, 1992) Support It’s free, it’s fast, and it tells the algorithm overlords this work matters. Supporting The Persistence means supporting all of it: the podcast, the posts, the zine, the whole enchilada. Send a post or an episode to a friend, a professor, or that cousin who loves debating politics at dinner. One quick Apple Podcasts review does more than any marketing budget I don’t have. Every coffee, every donation (and paid subscription) literally keeps the mic on and the stories flowing. Collaborate (let’s dream bigger): Educators? Creative? Filmmaker/Podcaster? Org with a mission? Let’s talk. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and share your thoughts with Angélica by emailing [email protected]. Don’t forget to sign up for host Angélica Cordero’s newsletter, Obsessively Curious!! It includes short insights that connect unlikely histories, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Get full access to Obsessively Curious at obsessivelycurious.substack.com/subscribe