Intersectionality and Punk Music in the 2020s

What is intersectionality, and how do musicians in the Punk music scene navigate life at different intersections?

Know (knowledge):

• The concept of intersectionality
• What an intersection is
• How all intersections bring unique challenges and opportunities, though some intersections may be more challenging in American society than others
• The Punk bands Proper. and The Loneliers, and how each member’s intersections as Queer and BIPOC musicians affected their lives as Punk musicians
• How musicians can be involved in the music scene without making it a full-time career

Mastery Objective

• Students will be able to define intersectionality and recognize their own intersections by analyzing lyrics and watching interviews from musicians in contemporary Punk bands.

In this lesson, students will explore the concept of intersectionality. To examine how intersectionality operates in real life, students will be introduced to members of the band The Loneliers and to Erik Garlington, frontman and guitarist for the band Proper. By listening to the music and hearing interviews from these two groups, students will discover the challenges and opportunities these bands have encountered as women, BIPOC and queer participants in the Punk Rock scene. Students will then have the opportunity to reflect on their own intersections, and the challenges and opportunities those intersections present.

Intersectionality: a word that has taken on increasing significance in the last few years.

The concept was coined in 1989 by Black scholar and activist Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. In its simplest terms, intersectionality speaks to the unique ways race, class, gender, ability, and sexual orientation might intersect in a person’s social position, and how those intersections uniquely contribute to their lived experience.

To make the concept of intersectionality more concrete, students will be examining the lives of Punk Rock musicians operating in New York City. They will be introduced to the band The Loneliers, an all-women, queer “twee girl punk band” from Queens, and to Erik Garlington the frontman, and guitarist for the all Black, queer, Brooklyn punk trio Proper. By listening to these artist’s music and hearing interviews with them, students will consider the challenges, opportunities, joys, and sorrows of being a BIPOC, Woman, and Queer person working in a Punk Rock scene that remains primarily white, straight, and male.

1. Set up 6 viewing stations, using devices that can access the internet, around the classroom. Prepare the following videos for each station:
   • Station 1: Navigating the (Mostly) Straight White Punk Scene
   • Station 2: Finding Your Tribe/Community
   • Station 3: The Effects of the COVID Pandemic
   • Station 4: Advice for People Interested in Performing Music
   • Station 5: On the Meaning of "Huerta" (also include Handout - Excerpts of Proper. and The Loneliers Lyrics)
   • Station 6: On the Meaning of "No" and "The Rights Song" (also include Handout - Excerpts of Proper. and The Loneliers Lyrics)