Even during her college days, Kathleen Hanna, 55, stood on stage to denounce sexual assaults on women with spoken word poems. A little later, the singer and her punk band Bikini Kill became the driving force of the “Riot Grrrl” movement, which loudly rebelled against male supremacy through art and music. Her autobiography “Rebel Girl,” which was published in the USA in May and is a decisive plea for female self-determination, also tells about this. In 1998 she founded the electropunk band Le Tigre, with which, like Bikini Kill, she is now touring again after a long break.
Hanna lives in Pasadena with her husband Ad-Rock, a member of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys until they disbanded in 2012, and their son. There, in her bedroom, she opened her laptop. She wears a baseball cap on her black hair with broad blonde strands, waves in greeting and laughs. And even after the connection deteriorates and she has to turn off the camera, her energy, her anger – and her confidence continue to vibrate.
When it comes to the question of what state America’s women are in a few weeks before the US election, she is a conversation partner with a clear stance. The issue that concerns her most, like many women in America, is the right to abortion.
Back in the 90s, you and your band Bikini Kill repeatedly played at demonstrations that were about reproductive self-determination. Now that the Supreme Court has struck down the nationwide right to abortion in June 2022, it must feel like you’re back at the beginning of your fight.
Kathleen Hanna: We women should have been warned when Donald Trump appointed abortion opponent Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court (Brett Kavanaugh is a lawyer, controversial conservative hardliner and has been a lifetime Supreme Court justice since October 2018. Editor’s note). But no one could imagine that the Court would actually take away the right to abortion. When he did it in 2022, I was like a deer in headlights. I was in complete shock. We had a concert that day and I kept thinking about my mother, who took to the streets for abortion rights in 1973. But suddenly we were thrown back decades.
Did you discuss the verdict on stage at the time?
No, not to burst into tears. Instead, we let our songs speak for themselves. A good concert can carry me through the week, and that was the case this summer when we toured. I couldn’t wait to be on stage that evening. The news was so bleak, Donald Trump was everywhere, and his poll numbers were rising. I was deeply saddened, but at the same time incredibly angry that we had allowed our country to develop in such a reactionary direction.
With Kamala Harris you can feel a new energy in the country. What does your nomination mean for you?
The day President Joe Biden cleared the way for them, hope returned.
Also that Kamala Harris would particularly advocate for women’s rights?
Women’s rights in our country are closely linked to the catastrophic healthcare system. Decent healthcare is only available to those who can afford it. Many women can’t do that – and especially black women. Access to medication and medical care is made particularly difficult for them. And the Supreme Court ruling has made this even worse, as women who become pregnant unintentionally now face further discrimination. It’s terrible. Adequate healthcare for all is the basis for greater justice. But this is a very big project.
After all, defending the right to abortion now plays a role in the election campaign.
Fortunately. Because a large part of the population is in favor of legal abortions. The right-wing zealots who want to take over our country are a minority. And their misogynistic politics will take revenge. Because it will motivate many people, especially women, who otherwise would not have voted at all, to vote against her.
Do you think women’s votes will tip the scales for Democrats in the upcoming elections?
In any case. The stories of eleven-year-old girls being forced to give birth to children are increasing. And also incidents of pregnant women who were denied an abortion dying of blood poisoning. That’s why women will go to the polls and vote for their own survival and that of their friends and families.
However, some also choose Trump’s Republicans.
It’s so crazy. But one should not underestimate how deeply rooted racism is. White women in particular vote for him. They feel threatened by Black people and believe that their greatest power is being white. For them, Trump is the president who protects their privileges.
You once said that women who vote for Trump were often treated badly by their fathers.
And certainly from other men too. They are so used to being treated badly that they don’t even notice. That’s why they vote for someone who has no respect for them, who is misogynistic and who speaks derogatory things about them.
Some people think the US is not ready for a female president.
I think we are more than ready for a female president. It’s a job and she’s qualified for it. I also think many people on the left realize what a mistake they made in 2016 by not supporting Hillary Clinton. Of course she wasn’t perfect. Politics is not perfect. But I don’t think a mistake like that will happen again.
And what if Harris doesn’t win the presidential election?
I can’t even think about that. Then I immediately cry. The fear that discrimination and racism will then become even worse is very great. So many people are already being shot today because of hatred, misogyny or homophobia. They go shopping, to the club or to the community center – and don’t come back. And a week later they were forgotten again because by then there was the next shooting. At the same time, attempts are being made to undermine the education system, ban books and ban topics such as slavery or the civil rights movement from lessons. Instead, crosses should be hung in classrooms and the Bible should be read. And we haven’t even talked about Project 2025, which the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank that has developed a precise strategy for the first 180 days of a new Trump term in office, which envisages a far-reaching restructuring of the government and power apparatus , editor’s note) would like to launch if Trump wins the election and that would give him absolute power. There really is a lot to be afraid of.
Are you hoping for younger voters who no longer just have to choose between two old men?
I am very confident about Generation Z. I also think a lot of Taylor Swift fans. During their tour, information stands were set up where concertgoers can register to vote. Of course it would be best if we all got together.
The “childless cat ladies” disparagingly called “childless cat ladies” by Trump’s vice presidential candidate JD Vance, the women who fought for abortion rights in the 70s, and Gen Z?
That would be something. So much is possible. Just last night it suddenly occurred to me that you used to be able to smoke anywhere. On the plane and even in the supermarket. I still remember my mother walking along the shelves smoking and there was an ashtray at the end of each aisle. Incredible. I could never have imagined that smoking would be banned. Nor that the LGBTQIA+ community celebrates its Pride Day in Disneyland and young men run hand in hand to the roller coaster. When I was a child, the words gay and lesbian weren’t even spoken. Things can change.
Do you talk about Trump at your concerts?
I don’t even mention his name. I would much rather focus on all the beautiful things we can build when white Republican men are finally history. They are already hanging on the cliff, desperately clinging on with their fingernails. Out of sheer fear, they make ever louder threats. But it’s really a last gasp because their era is over. At least I hope so.
Kathleen Hanna, 55, is from Oregon. Her mother encouraged her musical talent; She also took her to demos at an early age – the ideas of the feminists Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan influenced Hanna as a child. She studied photography, worked as a burlesque dancer and, in order to make women more visible in the punk rock scene, founded the band Bikini Kill in 1990, later Le Tigre. She supports women’s rights organizations such as Pro Choice. She has been married to rapper Adam Horovitz since 2006 and the couple lives in Pasadena.
