“White Boy” by Bikini Kill was written and released during the Riot Grrl era, in the 90s. The riot Grrrl era was focused on female empowerment and influencing the feminist punk movement. Bikini Kill focused their songs on rejecting the sexist gender roles within the music industry and in society. The “Riot” in Riot Grrrl represents rebellion. This era was caused due to a number of issues; Sexual harassment, sexual assault, and misogyny. The Punk rock scene was born in the 70s, and it was a male-dominated industry. Punk rock focused on rebellion, but sometimes were misogynistic towards female artists and women in general. Kathleen Hanna, who is the lead singer of Bikini Kill, wrote White Boy. She is an iconic figure and represents the Riot Grrrl movement.She began Bikini Kill in 1990. Kathleen Hanna was a feminist activist and she promoted female empowerment throughout the music she wrote for Bikini Kill and Le Tirge. She was not affraid to call out men for sexual assault women and for being misogynistic. She’s one of the most iconic faces seen in punk history, she influenced future generations of punk. 

 Kathleen wrote White Boy to promote awareness of the ignorance that men have towards women. White Boy is a punk rock song, it focuses on rebellion and the song has a loud tempo and it is extremely raw. The lead singer screams into the microphone throughout the song, carrying the theme of Riot Grrrl movement. The song is very “in your face” and gets the attention of the listeners. 

The song starts off with the songwriter/lead singer interviewing this random guy. She asks him a question that goes along the line of “how do you think women ask for sex?” the man responds with, “The way they act, the way they… I, I cant say its the way they dress because that’s their own personal choice but some dumb hoes, slut rocker bitches walking down the street they are asking for it” he then adds, “They may deny it, but it’s true” I can’t find anything on who this male voice was or how kathleen hanna even responded to this man but this interview was the reasoning behind why she wrote this song. Kathleen herself is a “punk rocker” so I know for a fact that this response got her upset. The rest of the song just talks about male obliviousness and how they have privilege within society. In verse two Kathleen yells., “I’m so sorry if Im alienating some of you, Your whole fucking culture alienates me I can no scream from pain down here on my knees, I am so sorry that I think!” She apologizes in a sarcastic tone and calls out men for the lack of awareness they have for the issues they have caused upon women.