German women in punk, Louise Barrière’s abstract

One of the speakers at the 4 December 2021 Punk Scholars Network Netherlands conference will be Louise Barrière from France. UPDATE: due to the COVID-19 pandemic we had to move our whole Women in Punk event to spring 2022.

Here comes the abstract of Louise’s paper.

Appropriations and articulations of feminist discourses in the German punk scene

Abstract:
In 2020, Tapete Records released a compilation exhuming the songs of the all-women punk band from Düsseldorf (Germany), Östro430, which was active between 1979 and 1984. As mentioned by Jenni Zykla for the Deutschlandfunkradio, the Östro430 members were the pioneers of a long “herstory” of feminist interventions in the German punk scene. The reissue of their songs in 2020 encourages us to look back in time. At the time Östro430 were active, feminist interventions in the German punk scene were often the initiatives of isolated bands or zinesters. These early initiatives nonetheless evolved into a time of “festivalization” in the 2000s, drawing on the influence of Ladyfests festivals, which were organised in Germany from 2003 onwards. These punk-inspired feminist festivals contributed to the formation of a nationwide network of activists – itself in interaction with an international scene. As the Covid-19 pandemic paused all face-to-face activities in 2020 and 2021, internet coalitions grew stronger in the German punk scene, and activists especially gathered around the “#PunkToo, Sexismus muss sterben” (“#PunkToo, sexism must die”) movement. This presentation analyses the ways in which these successive developments developed and articulated different feminist discourses and actions within the German punk scene.”

Bio:

Louise Barrière is a PhD Candidate in Performing Arts & Popular Music – Université de Lorraine. Dissertation title: Culture militante, culture artistique: les scènes de festivals punk-féministes en France et en Allemagne (2003-2019). ((The French & German Scenes of Punk-Feminist Festivals (2003-2019): an artistic & activist culture)

Here is an Östro430 video. Censored by German TV 40 years ago; now on the internet at last.