It has been interesting to witness the revival of 90's fashion and pop culture over the past couple of years.
What the fascination is, I'm not entirely sure.
Maybe it's the perception of a simpler time. A time where social media and technology didn't dominate our lives. Or the idea that life appeared more stable, politically and economically. Or maybe it's just fashion on its cyclical 'what goes around comes around' merry-go-round.
Whatever the fascination, as someone who was in their teens and early 20's during this time, it brings up memories both blissful and bad.
It was a revolutionary decade in many ways.
The rise of the internet and rapid development in technology began to transform the way we communicated, interacted and consumed information and entertainment. There was the growing influence of globalisation which sparked a surge in international trade and a shift towards manufacturing in emerging economies, particularly China. There was also a general sense of peace and stability in most parts of the world.
Most notably for my young self, it was an incredible time for the arts. Globalisation impacted the the creative industries enormously, leading to some of the most iconic moments in fashion and music history.
The genius of Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, not to mention the explosion of the supermodels and later, the new faces such as Kate Moss and Shalom Harlow. Together they created some of the most iconic images and runways in fashion history.
Despite these significant cultural shifts, the 90's had it's dark side.
The spread of information was tightly controlled, with just a small number of companies in charge of newspapers, television stations, radio stations, and other media outlets. This prevented a diversity of voices, stories and perspectives. In essence, they controlled the narrative.
The white, patriarchal narrative.
Homophobia was rampant. The LGBTQ community were the target of violent physical assaults, some resulting in death. Homophobic slurs were common in the school yard and bullying was frequent.
Racist attitudes and stereotypes particularly towards indigenous Australians were prevalent. Racial slurs and abuse were common in the school yard and in public spaces like professional sports grounds. The 90's saw high rates of violent assaults against indigenous Australians as well as constant police harassment and deaths in custody.
It was also a challenging time for women. Sexual harassment in the workplace was wide spread and largely ignored. Women were shut out of many industries as patriarchal structures sought to keep women in traditional roles. The gender pay gap saw women earn significantly less than their male counterparts and this was even more pronounced for women of colour.
Any deviation from white, patriarchal culture was punished.
As a young woman growing up in this environment, I took great solace in creativity. I was absolutely obsessed with music. When Grunge burst onto the scene in the early 90's, it resonated deeply.
The alternative music scene had a fierce energy. However, despite trailblazers like PJ Harvey, Kim Gordon, Kim Deal and Courtney Love, the majority of the bands were comprised of men and the feeling was one of male energy. The mosh pit was a physically scary place especially if you were small like me. However, if you wanted to participate in that scene as a woman, you had to meet that energy.
When Courtney Love screamed into my world with her band Hole, I was in awe. Who was this wild, provocative woman screaming lyrics that spoke of the female experience while thrashing away at a guitar?
You just didn't see women like her. She felt powerful. She had a voice and she was using it.
Her anger met mine.
So when Love proclaimed 'I want every girl in the world to pick up a guitar and start screaming', I heard that battle cry deep within my soul.
I was 17 years old.
I followed her instruction quite literally and on expressing my desire for one, my Dad bought me my first electric guitar that Christmas.
A pact with the devil
Western culture has a long history of controlling, oppressing and silencing women.
In Europe and European colonies during the 16th-18th centuries, the patriarchal system denied women opportunities for involvement and expression within public life. Instead they were confined to the domestic sphere, serving as wives, mothers and household labourers.
Religion played a powerful part in reinforcing traditional gender roles and shaping ideas around the appropriate conduct for a woman.
This included how or if she spoke.
While the experiences of women during this time were somewhat varied due to social class and geography, one thing remained the same. Women who spoke up and spoke out against the system were severely punished.
A woman who voiced her opinion could be exiled from her community, excommunicated from the church, or worse still, she could become the target of a witch hunt.
Witch hunts were active in Europe in the early modern period, from about 1450-1750.
The Catholic church was a powerful influence during this period. It played a lead role in the persecution of approximately 100 000 people, 40 000 - 60 000 of whom were executed on suspicion of witchcraft.
Approximately 80% of those executed were women.
Witchcraft was considered a heretical act (a crime against the church) due to the belief that witches had made a pact with the devil and in doing so had consciously rejected God.
It was also believed that women were particularly weak and easily influenced by the devil and supernatural forces.
Many of the convicted women were subjected to the brutally violent punishment for heresy which was burning at the stake.
Witch hunts were used as a way of maintaining social order. They served to reinforce patriarchal power structures, enforce conformity and compliance and silence any voices of dissent.
Women's voices.
Any woman who stepped outside of her prescribed role, as determined by the church, could become the target of a witch hunt.
Women who were independent, assertive, opinionated or knowledgeable were at great risk of persecution or death. As were widowers and poor women.
That is, any woman perceived as not under the control of a man, was targeted.
Another horrific punishment for out spoken women during this time was known as the 'Scold's bridle'. An iron mask that acted as a muzzle with a spiked bit that pierced and compressed the tongue. The Scold's Bridle completely and mercilessly silenced the woman wearing it. It's function was one of social control. It served to punish women deemed too talkative, too disruptive, too challenging or too rebellious.
The pathology of opinions
Hysteria.
The mental health disorder attributed to women.
The diagnosis of hysteria can be traced as far back as ancient Egypt and ancient Greece although the term itself was first known to be used by Hippocrates in the 5th century BC.
Originating from the Greek word 'hystera' meaning uterus, Hippocrates believed that 'Hysteria' was a condition caused by abnormal movement of the uterus. It was believed that the uterus could 'wander' around the body, wreaking havoc on other organs.
During the 5th - 13th centuries, under the dominating influence of the church, the cause of Hysteria was perceived as satanic possession. Women diagnosed with this form of 'female madness' were subjected to interrogations, torture, exorcisms, and execution.
Hysteria was a blanket term used to describe a series of 'unexplainable' symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, heart palpitations, fainting, irritability, emotional outbursts, anxiety and insomnia to name a few.
The diagnosis of hysteria pathologized any behaviour in women that men found challenging or unmanageable or that deviated from societal expectations. This included being assertive, independent or expressing strong opinions.
The 'condition' of Hysteria was perpetuated by men's control over the medical field, often reducing women's experience to being 'over emotional' or 'deranged'.
Compounding this bias, the 'ailments' doctors targeted in women were often accepted in men. This further cemented gendered stereotypes that demanded female submissiveness, silence, and repression.
Hysteria was used as a way of reinforcing patriarchal structures and maintaining social order by controlling and silencing women and diminishing their lived experience.
The term Hysteria was not removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) until 1980.
The pen is mightier than the sword
Women's voices and stories have been marginalised, demonized, pathologized and silenced for centuries. This is especially true for indigenous women, black women and women of colour.
Yet, somehow, despite the stranglehold patriarchal structures had on them, they found a way to use their voice.
Whether it was through diary entries, letters, novels, painting, music, oral traditions, sewing or craft, throughout the centuries, women have woven their voices through their chosen medium and let it carry their stories.
Female authors would often use male pen names in an attempt to get their work out to a wider audience. During the 19th century, the Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, used male pen names to publish their work as it was their belief, that as women, they would be looked on with prejudice.
Charlotte Bonte's most famous novel 'Jane Eyre', published under the pen name Currer Bell, was reviewed in 1848. The review stated that 'it was a dangerous book with an unrepentant and rebellious heroine'.
More than 100 years later, writer and academic, Gloria Jean Watkins, would use the pen name 'bell hooks'. She deliberately used all lower case letters to shift focus from her personal identity to her work. The pen name was a tribute to her great grandmother Bell Blair Hooks, who was described as a woman with sharp opinions who never hesitated to speak her mind.
Forming an independent voice as a woman is no easy feat.
Many incredible women have been obscured in history by their husbands. Artist Lee Krasner, wife of Jackson Pollock, was an accomplished painter in her own right. However, during the course of her career, her work was always viewed in relationship to his.
In a 1949 review of an exhibition titled 'Artists - Man and wife' of which Pollock and Krasner exhibited, it was stated:
'There is a tendency among some of these wives to 'tidy up' their husband's styles. Lee Krasner (Mrs. Jackson Pollock) takes her husband's paint and enamels and changes his unrestrained, sweeping lines into neat little squares and triangles'.
Krasner's art teacher Hans Hofmann, in an attempt to complement her, stated:
'This is so good you wouldn't know it was done by a woman'.
It was only after Pollock's death in 1956 that she began to receive the recognition she so richly deserved.
Live through this
Courtney Love has definitely been on the receiving end of a modern day witch hunt.
Love is out spoken, confrontational, unapologetic, loud, and at times, messy.
Western culture does not tolerate women like this.
The only difference between Love and her male contemporaries is her gender. She engaged in a similar life style and behaviours, yet they are idolised for their wild, rock star antics and she is cast as the 'junkie' 'fame whore' 'bitch' 'shrew' 'murderer'.
The musical legacy of Love's critically acclaimed band Hole, is over shadowed by the success and fame of her late husband Kurt Cobain. Her work is viewed in relationship to his. Credit for Love's incredible song writing is often attributed to Cobain. In the aftermath of Cobain's tragic death, Love was not treated as a grieving widow. The harassment of her only intensified.
She was 29 years old.
Commentary about her personal life and the swirling storm around her ability to parent her child further sought to discredit her. No one seems interested in whether Keith Richards was able to effectively parent his five children or Mick Jagger his eight.
Women are judged by a different set of rules.
In 1992, Sinead O'Connor was violently booed at a concert in Madison Square Garden. The crowd's reaction came after her infamous appearance on Saturday Night Live where she tore up a picture of the Pope. She did this as a way of speaking out against child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
When speaking of the concert she stated: 'My main memory of that night was that it was the most incredible noise I had ever heard. I had never heard a sound like it before or since. It was a great clash of the two halves of the audience. It made me want to throw up'.
She sang anyway. With her extraordinary voice. Acapella.
She was 25 years old.
The ongoing vitriol O'Connor received was fierce and unrelenting. It was akin to being exiled. It wasn't until years later that the horrific truth regarding the abuse of children within the Catholic church was completely cracked open.
Society doesn't reward courageous women who speak the truth against power.
The extraordinarily talented musician and black activist, Nina Simone, was another woman labelled as angry and difficult. Her fierce, outspoken nature and strong opinions constantly met with criticism and she was often labelled a diva.
Simone's music is deeply moving, intense, raw and expressive. She used her virtuosic talent to speak out about political and social issues and was a vocal supporter of civil rights.
Like Love and O'Connor, Simone was a complex woman. She could be rude, loud, aggressive and impulsive. Everything a woman is told not to be.
She was angry.
She had every right to be.
In 2022, actor Will Smith physically assaulted comedian Chris Rock at the Academy Awards while Rock was presenting on stage. Moments later Smith was given a standing ovation from the audience after receiving an award. Why wasn't Smith labelled as aggressive and impulsive? Why wasn't he exiled?
Just a little bit of history repeating
In 2024, during an episode of the Australian reality TV show 'Married at first sight', a male participant of the show was being questioned by a loud, assertive, opinionated female participant. During the heated interaction, he turned to the woman's husband and said 'Can you muzzle your woman?'.
This was broadcast to approximately 2 million viewers.
The truth is, the silencing of women is embedded into western culture. It courses through the veins of history and beats at the heart of modern society.
History is not separate from us. It lives inside of us.
Referring to 22 year old activist Greta Thunberg, Donald Trump recently stated: 'She’s a strange person. She’s a young, angry person. She’s certainly different. I think she has to go to an anger management class. That’s my primary recommendation for her'
Perhaps he should have just called her a witch and be done with it.
In May of this year, Kristen Stewart's directorial debut 'The Chronology of Water' premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. When discussing the themes of the film she stated: 'As women, we are walking secrets'. She then goes on to describe how society feels about women: 'We want to see you, we don't want to hear you. Don't tell us how you feel, it makes us uncomfortable'.
Women who speak out make society uncomfortable. Women who express anger make society uncomfortable. Women who disrupt the patriarchal order make society uncomfortable.
We don't know what to do with them.
Burn them at the stake? Diagnose them with 'female madness' or satanic possession? Muzzle them? Exile them? Send them to anger management classes?
Finding your voice in a culture that wants you to stay silent takes courage. Inside you is the fear of every woman that has gone before you. But, you also carry their bravery, their power, their strength, their fortitude.
You have picked up the guitar, now it's time to start screaming.
How to find your voice
1. Give yourself permission to speak
It may sound strange, but actively allowing yourself to have opinions and share your preferences is a positive step towards finding your authentic voice. If this is something you struggle with, start small. Begin by stating less difficult preferences like what movie you would prefer to watch or what you would like to eat for dinner.
More challenging areas could be setting boundaries and saying no. No is a really powerful word to use and is quite a difficult one for women. 'Thank you for the invitation but no, I won't be able to attend' 'No, I don't like that restaurant' 'No, I'm not comfortable with that'.
2. Be aware of shrinking yourself
Minimising your achievements, skills and talents is a subtle way of stifling your voice. This isn't about gloating or boasting, it is about stepping in and being proud of who you are. One of the ways you can identify this is when someone gives you an honest compliment. If someone compliments you and you find yourself immediately wanting to shut it down or minimize it, it may be a sign that you are stifling your voice. Practice saying 'Thank you' then sitting with the discomfort that may arise. It will get easier with practice.
3. Advocate for your health
The legacy of 'Hysteria' and sexism exists within today's healthcare system. Women's health is chronically under funded. Find a doctor that takes your symptoms seriously, makes you feel heard and validates your experience.
4. Don't believe the lies
Be vigilant to your own internalised misogyny. As a result of being indoctrinated into a patriarchal culture, you may hold subconscious ideas that don't align with your authentic self. Become aware of the voices inside that do not belong to you.
Learn to recognise when you are engaging in common stereotypes about women's capabilities, ambition, stability, appearance etc. Look for areas where you hold double standards, judging women more harshly than men for the same behaviours or choices. Be mindful of participating in gossip or jokes that actively seek to denigrate women.
Listen to female voices, read female authors, watch female directed movies and follow female driven brands and social media accounts. Look for people and communities that showcase diverse female experiences and achievements.
5. Take singing lessons/ vocal coaching classes
Learning to physically release your voice is a powerful thing. A strong and confident speaking voice can help you assert yourself. Don't be afraid to experiment with making noise. It is an excellent way to release pent-up emotions and tap into your authentic voice.
Primal scream
For me, the 90's revival isn't about Doc Martens and slip dresses. It is a reminder. A powerful reminder from my younger self to keep screaming.
You have a right to be heard. To be listened to. The world needs it. You need it.
There is no right or wrong way for your voice to emerge. No perfect pitch or polished cadence required. It simply needs to be yours.
Your marvellous, wonderful, authentic voice.
'The only way to find your voice is to use it' - Austin Kleon