Blog Entry 3
Default Gender’s ‘On Fraternity’ recontextualizes familiar mantras from bands like Bikini Kill and Heaven to Betsy of the 1990’s feminist punk movement Riot Grrrl. Lyrics like:
“The way your heart speeds up when you notice someone walking behind you” and “In their opinion you were almost kind of asking for it” illuminates the very real issues surrounding rape culture. Not only does the band-turned-art project deconstruct sexism in culture at large, lines like “who cares if it’s right as long as it’s punk” speak volumes of the normalized misogyny apparent within the punk scene itself. In the video the main member of the group James Brooks is viewed sitting in front of a kitsch background set made up fake flowers and stuffed animals (stereotypical connotations of girlhood and feminism), critiquing traditional gender roles. Furthermore, Brooks is viewed on his game console the whole video highlighting intersections between art and new media technology. The viewer watches Brooks and the glowing screen behind him, while Brooks views the screen in front of him raising questions surrounding spectatorship and possibly alienation in the age of Internet.
