Being a riot grrrl in Eastern Europe: The roots of Riot! Women from the Hungarian Wasteland

This article aims to analyse the role and representation of women within the Hungarian punk subculture, while also tracing the growing scholarly and cultural attention devoted to this issue over the past decade, ultimately marked by the release of a compilation by Trottel Records in 2023. The 2023 Trottel selection is notable as it frames the Hungarian women’s punk movement as a coherent and continuous phenomenon from the 1970s to the present. Its title, Riot! Women from the Hungarian Wasteland , simultaneously signals a localized adaptation of a western phenomenon, reflecting certain affinities with the riot grrrl movement without suggesting a direct equivalence. This article traces this lineage, demonstrating how punk women and feminist ideas were articulated within the Hungarian punk scene up to 2023 through the lyrics, zines and interviews of bands such as Rés, Trottel, the Shitheads, Rákosi, Not Normal and Holnaplányok.