Pussy Riot: Your Daughter’s New Super Heroes

The New York Times have called them the resurrection of punk. The likes of Paul McCartney and Madonna have supported them. Pussy Riot, the radical all girl punk-rock activist group is taking the Russian government by storm. Their message is less about the music and more about what they’re doing. I’m pretty sure these women are the epitome of female empowerment and as role models for young girls in a world filled with oversexualized media, they’re refreshing.

In a video where three of the girls in the band were interviewed by The Guardian, one of the girls going by ‘”Squirrel,” said, “Women are sick of (Putin’s) sexist regime, with the political system and with religion at the same time.”

In the same video “Sparrow” said that one of the main ideas of the group is to remain anonymous. All of the members wear brightly colored masks. When asked why Squirrel responded “Because we’re bright!” In a country deeply distrustful of feminism, the members of the band are extremely brave. Though you may not agree with their “feminists gone wild” approach to their cause, it’s hard not to like them. On August 17th, three of the members Maria Alekhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova  two year jail sentence was appealed. They were put on trial after going into Moscow’s Christ the Savior cathedral to perform a “punk prayer” where they called on the Virgin Mary (considered the protector of Russia) to free the nation of Vladimir Putin. They were then taken into custody under charges of hooliganism.

Now compare these women to the role models girls in America have. Who do you want your daughter looking up to, teeny bopper songstresses (see: Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus) or strong, empowering ladies fighting against Russia’s government to better their nation? With little girls wanting “real life super heroes”, these women are just the people for the job. One of the girls in the The Guardian interview video even said “When I put my mask on I feel like Cat Woman.” With two of the band members fleeing the country and three others hiding from the Russian authorities, the women of Pussy Riot have definitely captured that bad ass super hero feel.

”The fact that they’re not apologizing for what they did is really inspiring to me,” said an eighth grader named Marian (to the New York Times) who attended a protest in NYC against the imprisonment of the three band members “I feel like if people did this more, women would be more respected.”

Though it may not be in your best interest to try and explain Russia’s politics to your little sweetheart (you definitely don’t want her chanting the band’s name on her first day of second grade), there’s no harm in letting her know that there are amazing women kicking bad politician butt only a continent away.

(Photo: arindambanerjee / Shutterstock.com)

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