riot grrrlz

A form of riot grrrl — An underground feminist punk movement and subculture that began in the early 1990s.

Meanings

noun
  1. pluralplural of riot grrrl

    WHAT DO pinups, girl reporters, dumb blonds, wimmin’s libbers, and riot grrrlz have in common?

    1999, Trina Robbins, From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of ♀ Comics from Teens to Zines, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, back cover
    3 more examples

    Kathleen Hanna is in a band called Bikini Kill which has had to deal with all these jealous boy crappings. She told Bad Attitude what she knew of the Riot Girl thing in the States. She wanted to make clear however, that she does not represent the ‘law’ on riot grrrlz (or even Bikini Kill’s other band members). There is none.

    1993 April/May, “Meeting of Bad Attitudes with KATHLEEN HANNA - riot girl!”, in Bad Attitude, number 3, page 7, column 1

    Widespread de facto censorship of (quite legal) modern sex periodicals probably ensures that many librarians have never seen—and might not guess at!—their extraordinary diversity of opinion and focus. Some are reviewed in Factsheet 5 and range from “riot grrrlz” through punkzine sex through Gothic through body piercing, S&M, queerzines, and so on.

    1996, Martha Cornog, Timothy Perper, “Other Sexuality Materials: Vertical File Holdings, Periodicals, Literature, and Audiovisuals”, in For Sex Education, See Librarian: A Guide to Issues and Resources, Westport, Conn.; London: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 113

    Outside the classroom, third-wave feminists, riot grrrlz, and other activists encourage young women to push against barriers and to use their skills as readers and writers to pursue personal, social, and political goals.

    2003, Jane Greer, “Introduction”, in Girls and Literacy in America: Historical Perspectives to the Present, Santa Barbara, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Oxford, Oxon: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page xxii
Cite this entry
APA

riot grrrlz. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riot%20grrrlz

MLA

“riot grrrlz.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riot%20grrrlz. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “riot grrrlz,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/riot%20grrrlz.

Source: riot grrrlz on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.