Moxie

Feminism is the ideological belief that women should be accorded the same civil rights as men, and feminist movements are devoted to dismantling barriers to equality, whether economic, political, or cultural. While traditional definitions of feminism, and the terms used in Moxie, address issues of inequality between women and men, many modern feminists advocate for equality for nonbinary, genderqueer, and trans individuals as well as those who identify as female.

While the notion that women deserve fair and equal treatment has surfaced throughout history, first-wave feminism is usually traced to movements in the 19th century in the United States and Europe that fought for women’s right to vote in public elections and resulted in such landmark legislation as the passage of the 19th Amendment in the US. Second-wave feminism grew in the US during the 1950s and 1960s in concert with broader calls for civil rights, and women demanded, among other things, more economic equality, the ability to own and control property, more job opportunities, and equal pay.

A so-called third wave of feminism emerged in the mid-1990s to continue calls for economic equality in the workforce and legislation to punish domestic violence and sexual assault. Whereas first and second waves had primarily benefited white women, third-wave feminists began to acknowledge the different barriers imposed on women of color and lower socioeconomic strata. Intersectional feminism attempts to acknowledge and address the ways different kinds of inequality can overlap, particularly inequalities due to race, gender, class, or citizenship status.

More recently, fourth-wave feminism takes advantage of social media platforms to visibly and vocally resist instances of sexism and rape culture, the attitude that regards women as sexual objects whose primary role is to please men. One result of fourth-wave feminism is the #MeToo movement, a social media protest encouraging women to speak out about sexual harassment. While definitions of feminism and the goals of feminist organizations and movements can differ widely, many fourth-wave feminists continue to press for workplace equality, an end to rape culture and sexual harassment, and an end to marginalization and discrimination against people expressing different gender identities and sexualities. Moxie was published in 2017, right before the #MeToo movement went truly viral and participates in that call for greater awareness of the harmful effects of sexual abuse and rape culture. The book voices some of the basic ideological tenets of feminism and identifies some of ways people in power divert, undermine, silence, or intimidate women who speak up about injustice.

The Riot Grrrl movement appeared in the early 1990s amid the punk rock scene in the Pacific Northwest. In the lyrics of their songs and the zines they wrote and circulated, female musicians and artists protested sexism and celebrated anger, resistance, and the free expression of women’s sexuality. Bands included Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland, 7 Year Bitch, Calamity Jane, Excuse 17, Heavens to Betsy, and Sleater-Kinney. The phrase “riot grrrl” was adopted to indicate this defiance of sexist norms. Artist and musician Katherine Hanna, the lead singer of Bikini Kill, published a riot grrrl manifesto that captured the need these young women felt for self-expression, acceptance on their own terms, and indignation at cultural stereotypes that consistently undermined or dismissed the value of girls. The notion of girl power, which meant fighting back against sexism and giving women space to live as they wish and use their voices, entered mainstream culture in the mid-90s through the pop music of groups such as The Spice Girls.

A zine, short for magazine or fanzine, is generally a small, self-published work of original or borrowed images. They’re meant to reach and appeal to a small group, such as fans, or, in the case of riot grrrl zines, to circulate thoughts, ideas, and calls to action. While some zines are expressions of an individual artist or group, Vivian keeps Moxie anonymous in part because she wants to launch an activist movement that doesn’t belong to any one person but has communal investment and ownership.