grrlsriseup-blog - Tumblr blog

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A fantastic video about self love.

AM I SUPPOSED TO HATE MY BODY?

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meetings,absences,decisions,minutes;

There has been talk and worry of folks missing meetings and get togethers and worrying they will miss out on any decisions that are made within the group. I am a big believer in eliminating any hierarchy in community based groups. I promise to take minutes at all meetings and if I am unable to make it to a meeting I promise to pass the duty on to someone else. All decisions will be brought back to the group to discuss before being made unless otherwise stated and talked about collectively  if you feel as though this isn't being followed properly, please speak up and let us know! we have to work together :)! the last thing we want is people feeling left out and as though they are not able to voice their opinions!  Brie. 

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SOME CHANGES TO LOCATION BUT SAME DATE SAME TIME!

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hello lovelies!

So as some of you may or may not be aware, Matt Cuthburt runner, creater and just about everything under the sun over at A Mountain Far is the raddest of the rads in terms of DIY culture here in Toronto and just an all around wicked human being whom you should all show immense amounts of support to! is putting together the third annual : A Mountain Far Fest 3! . You should all come out as it is guarenteed to be a great time in a safe and wonderful environment; SOYBOMB! there are some really wonderful bands playing and he has left an open invitation for tablers to come hangout and do their thing. I am really hoping to get GRRLS RISE UP in on this..so if anyone near or far have any zines, photographs, poetry, literature, art or ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF that you would want to contribute , let us know and hopefully we can get something going. I am also hoping we can throw together  a collective piece at our first event!

shoot us an email : grrlsriseup@gmail.com post in the group! : https://www.facebook.com/groups/473745235969604/ or send us a msg here! 

xo! Brie.  

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for those of you who were unaware of it, Toronto has a local Punk radio show that airs every single sunday from 10-12. Hosted by some rad local punks. Do your best to tune it, they work super hard at putting together a jam packed show full of local acts,discussion and interviews! SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SCENE you can stream it on itunes orrrrrr hit up 89.5 fm!!   EQUALIZINGXDISTORT 

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Who says grrls can't rock? ;)

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Self Love as a Tool to Help Smash Grrrl Hate

Something I’ve found to be a big contributor to “grrl-hate” is the lack of confidence some people have in themselves and their own bodies. I’m sure most of you (myself included) have all found yourselves in a position at one point or another where you have felt “ugly” or “fat” or “weak”, and what makes me most upset about these feelings is the fact that in modern society “conventional attractiveness” is nothing more than a fabrication of things made up by the media to promote a certain body type with no real reasoning behind it.

Sometimes when I hear people making comments about someone being overweight or having a big nose or body hair, or any of the million things that we have to worry about regarding our appearance these days, I question them about why they think it is unattractive. Ninety-nine percent of the time those people can’t come up with an answer other than “it’s just not attractive”. They don’t know why they feel that way and they don’t know when those feelings started, but they’re there.

The truth of the matter is (and I’m sure we’re all well aware of it), we live in a society that is run off consumption. We have been socialized as buying machines. This consumer culture will do anything in its power to brainwash us into believing a certain product or shape or colour is what we need to obtain, and without anyone even really realizing it our subconscious’ start to pick away at our brains, telling us we’re not good enough and that we need to change. Well news flash, folks...we don’t. It’s going to sound cliché but it’s a cliché that will never disappoint, we are all beautiful in our own way, and we need to start treating ourselves that way. Embrace your bellies, embrace your fuzzy pits, embrace your crooked teeth; embrace every bit of yourselves, because the things that you are self conscious of are the things that make you unique, they’re the things that make you beautiful.

What I’m trying to get at here is that we all need to start enforcing some radical self love into our lives. It may sound super “flower child” of me, but I believe body positivity is one of the most important things a person could ever practice. Once we learn to love ourselves and stop comparing our bodies, that is when the competition we have created between one another will end.

Try and think of some different things you can do on a daily basis to remind yourself that you are beautiful.

-Stick a post-it note on your mirror every morning with one positive thing you notice about yourself that day.

-Take some sexy photos of yourself to admire

- Learn to accept compliments

- Compliment others

All of these things will lead you on a path to loving your body, and in turn help to destroy our arguably innate competitive patterns with our fellow grrrl.

Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other.

-Kaitie

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you're all the sweetest!

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I've been thinking a lot about self care and the stigma attached to being alone. How we feel as though being alone = lonley. Then I get to thinking about how some of the most beautiful and liberating moments in my life have been attained by being alone and feeling that sense of accomplishment by doing something completely independently.        It feels good and once you can break the chains of feeling dependent on others to feel good about yourself, its a cycle that you get used to - a cycle you become proud of. After talking with an old friend about how she feels lost after a really crummy breakup and how she wakes up in the morning lacking a sense of meaning- I feel as though I can relate and then I remember how far away that feeling is these days which reminds me how far i've come. Patience is not an easy virtue, but with time you get there and you learn to love yourself and love your you time. Thats what im thinking about today. Im thinking about the power of friendships and the power of time allotted to being alone. xo -Brie 

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

-Audre Lorde 

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This event is tonight!! Come out and help support local and touring bands!!

VENEERS (st. john's) 

http://veneers.bandcamp.com/ TOWN SHIP (toronto) http://overdueresidue.com/township

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Our first event! Come! Bring your friends! Bring your dogs! Bring your favorite vegan snacks!

We hope to see you there!!

xoxo

-Kaitie

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Allow me to introduce myself!

For those of you who don’t know me already, my name is Kaitie. I'm 21, originally from Newfoundland, currently living in Toronto. My interest in feminism started soon after my introduction into my hometown's punk scene. I realized very quickly that being a female musician made me stand out in the eyes of my audiences and in almost every circumstance...not in a good way. I was finding myself being harassed, assaulted, and degraded. Without a doubt, at every show I was told that I was "really good for a girl." Men were objectifying me, and wymyn were threatened by me. It's hard walking into a venue thinking that everyone in the room is your enemy. It's definitely contributed to the struggles I have currently with social anxiety and my relationships with my female peers in general. In recent years my desire for grrl friends has become much greater than ever before, but the competitive nature of the wymyn in the music scene has made it virtually impossible. The reason we decided to form Grrls Rise Up is to start over. To eliminate the way society has socialized us into believing that every other womyn is an enemy. It’s time to break down the barricades of what we’ve been taught and start taking control of the situation ourselves. It is up to us to change the way we treat one another, and goodness knows we’re strong enough to do so.

-Kaitie

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Social Anxiety and The Need For Understanding.

We've all, in one situation or another, experienced anxieties. The feeling of walking into a room full of strangers or even friends and feeling completely alone, can be totally crippling and often times completely misunderstood.  Compassion for Social Anxiety is low and I recognize that it may come from a place of misunderstanding. You are not alone in this feeling and we as a community want to help you to feel at ease. We want to elimiate any factors that may contribute to the feelings that come along with social anxiety. May i start with saying your feelings are real and you reserve the right to feel that way and it does not make you lame or shitty or antisocial.  We as womyn, live in a world where we are taught to be silenced. We are taught to compete with everyone we meet. We arent taught to embrace eachother and we are certainly not taught to embrace our flaws. So theres no wonder why walking into a room full of strangers or "competition" may be difficult. These backwards, twisted and fucked up ideals that we've been socialized with, need to change.  As a community united to smash patriarchy and all of these morals that we've been conditioned with, we are striving to bring everyone together.

With Workshops, movie nights discussions and open meetings we hope to educate each other, learn from each other and put our anxieties at ease. We encourage and demand a safe and positive space where everyone feels a part of, where everyone feels welcome and where everyone is encouraged to help.  We encourage those who feel alone , new, strange or just plain anxious to send us a msg! via our blog our facebook group or our email. We want you to come hangout, we want to smash the ideals of who may or may not belong. We want you to feel comfortable and liberated.  we want to build a safe and radical space where ideas and friendships flow with ease and smilin' faces. Drop us a line, meet up with us before a meeting share your ideas. We recognize your hardships and we welcome you with open hearts! xo, Brie! 

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"Women didn't want to be on the stage with other women because they didn't want their bodies to be compared. They didn't want another female act opening for them because of this weird competitive and tokenistic attitude." -Kathleen Hanna

I feel like this is the best representation for the motive of this blog. I was inspired yesterday while I was spending time with some grrlfriends I had recently met since moving to Toronto. We spent our evening in a small arts and culture centre in Kensington Market at a feminist music festival. There was free vegan food, tabling by the Toronto Zine Library, 3 incredible touring bands (Chemical Peel, Potty Mouth and Pantayo Kulintang Ensemble, who we will definitely be promoting on this blog in the very near future), and more grrls than I've ever seen at any show in my entire life. 

To keep it plain and simple, our goal is to eliminate the competitive nature that's been socialized between women in the music scene. We're reaching out to the Greater Toronto Area and we're asking all you punx and hardcore grrls to come spend some time with us. Let's get to know one another!! We want to brainstorm, we want to have discussions, we want to have workshops and to craft and have movie nights and play instruments together!

It's time for Toronto Grrls to Rise Up!!

-Kaitie

http://pottymouth.bandcamp.com/

http://chemicalpeel.bandcamp.com/

http://soundcloud.com/pantayo

http://www.torontozinelibrary.org/