Emerging in D.C. in the early 1990s, the Riot Grrrl movement changed punk music, making space for young female musicians and ushering in a new wave of DIY activism. In reaction to the violence and sexism of the hardcore music scene, Riot Grrrl made way for a "girl-dominated" punk community, and though the movement was short lived, and arguably short sighted, its impact on punk music, let alone the D.C. scene, was massive.
In 1971, twelve women moved into a house on Capitol Hill, becoming the first serious lesbian collective in America. Contentious from the start and lasting only a year and a half, these Furies (as they called themselves) nonetheless incited a reckoning within the feminist movement, with thought and theory that is still being discussed today.
As the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment approached, proponents of the amendment held what was then known as the "largest parade for feminism in history" to pressure Congress for an extension to the ratification date.
