Queering Punk! The problem with underrepresentation in the punk scene

Image by Julia Roeselers

The punk movement challenged normativity in various ways, embodying rage and frustration against a society based on monetary privileges and hypocritical tenets. Through popular personalities, such as the leaders of the most famous punk groups, post-World War II youth began to feel represented in their anger and desire to break free from a suffocating normativity.

The fascination with punk icons also influenced me: When I was a teenager, Joe Strummer of the Clash was my absolute idol. I felt that the anger I was feeling towards injustices was somewhat captured in really cool music. However, I also soon realized that the main discourse around punk music is built upon the prototype of the punk rocker: a white, English-speaking, heterosexual man belonging to the working class.

The hypocrisy of certain groups of white punk people mimicking a “suburban” way of life, a reality that many people of color could not negotiate or escape from, but at the same time, without actually including people of color inside the scene, is antithetical to punk's core. Although we now associate punk with queer spaces more often, the scene was not always so welcoming to queer people either: The punk historian and queer studies researcher Kristy Lohman reminds us that "lesbians were at risk of homophobia at punk shows and sexism in gay bars, gay male punks did not straightforwardly fit the aesthetic norms of the gay scene, and trans and gender non-conforming punks were similarly at risk". This hypocrisy and lack of representation of sexual and racial diversity inside of the punk community motivated many people to seek for a “subculture within a subculture” (eg, femme, queer, Black/Latinx punk scene).

How to queer punk. Suggestions for a more intersectional scene
The first major movement to challenge the tenets of what punk was considered until then was undoubtedly that of the Riot Grrrls, a subcultural movement that combines feminism and punk music. It's closely tied to third-wave feminism, which many see as having been shaped by the movement. In the 2010s, its influence made a comeback through a new wave of feminist punk music, which focused on being more intersectional, part of what's now called fourth-wave feminism. They were for sure pioneers of a less heteronormative scene, opening the gates to queer contemporary punk.

While it may sound like all bad ass punk artists fall into the realms of heteronormativity, this is simply not true. There is a wealth of intersectional punk out there, and here I've compiled some suggestions for punk music that challenge the conventional punk narrative, addressing issues of race, gender, and class.

White Justice – Alice Bag
This ties the Chicano Moratorium protests from the 1970s, which pushed back against the Vietnam War and its unfair impact on marginalized communities, to today's fight against systemic racism. With her raw vocals, Bag honors her Chicana background, shedding light on how the American justice system often fails people of color and the Latinx community. It is a powerful call to action, encouraging everyone to stand up and push back against the ongoing inequalities and injustices. Still painfully contemporary.
White justice doesn't work for me
White justice is a travesty

Help Me I'm Gay – Lambrini Girls
Lambrini Girls don't ask for permission; they spit it back at you. "Help Me I'm Gay" is a sarcastic scream from Brighton's queer punk duo, where they include all the stereotypes that queer people have to deal with every day and the difficulty of letting the internalized desire for male validation go. Lambrini Girls reminds us that punk is far from dead; it's just gayer and angrier.
Help me, I'm gay
Yet everything I do is for the male gaze

Targets of Men, Targets of Men – G.L.O.S.S.
“Targets of Men, Targets of Men” is G.L.O.S.S. at its most visceral, a blast of rage confronting misogyny, transmisogyny, and the oppression that stalks femme and queer bodies. The lyrics reject narrative of victimhood and instead assert queer power through rage. It's unapologetic and brutally honest. “Targets of Men, Target of Men” is a scream from the margins, echoing through every dark alley we, as femmes and queer people, are afraid to cross alone.
I don't remember inviting your words
I don't remember inviting your gaze

Poderosxs – Krudas Cubensi
In "Poderosxs," Krudas Cubensi really makes a statement about queer, Black, feminist strength. The Afro-Cuban duo, formed by Odaymara Cuesta and Olivia Prendes in 1990, combines bold protest-punk lyrics with Caribbean beats. The title, which would be roughly translated as "Powerful Ones" in gender neutral language (the x is often used to avoid using gendered vowels in Spanish) is the anthem of transgender, queer and non-conforming bodies and identities.
Queens and kings and people in between
Poderosxs, todos somos poderosxs

Honorable mention: The anthology Punk! Las Americas Edition (Olga Rodriguez-Ulloa, Shane Greene, Rodrigo Quijano) is a splendid introduction to the world of Queercore or, as Du Plessis and Chapman defined it in 1997, that punk subculture that was born from the impellent necessity of creating a dynamic where minoritarian groups could join the scene “both signaling their allegiances to punk culture but at the same time distancing themselves from the masculinist tendencies of hardcore punk”. The pictures and stories collected in this anthology shine a light on the desire of queer artists of color to find a third way between identification with a hostile environment and counter-identification against it. In this case, it occurred by assimilating the expressions and aesthetics of punk language to create a new expression. This book is a fantastic resource for individuals who want to delve deeper into Latinx and Afro-punk culture. Concluding with a quote from the photographer Amina Cruz: It was the first time I felt like I was part of something. I started taking photographs, and ever since, my photographic gaze has been directed toward punks that are queer and brown.

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