When I was a teenager, there were few opportunities for girls to form their own rock bands (or it just wasn’t encouraged where I lived). But the times continue to change. Today girls can rock out at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, a nonprofit started in 2001 at Portland State University by Misty McElroy. Here girls ages eight to eighteen have a chance to form bands, write songs, and learn about themselves along the way. The camp encourages self-esteem building and gets girls to “speak up, sing out, and make noise.” The rock camp has evolved into a year-round institute and today there are girls rock camps throughout the United States and in Sweden and the UK. Several new camps are forming, too.
A new film, Girls Rock the Movie, directed by Arne Johnson and Shane King, follows the experience of several girls as they experience their first summer rock camp experience. Co-director Arne Johnson tells me about the film and what he learned along the way.
KJK: What led you to make Girls Rock?
AJ: I’m a big fan of Sleater Kinney, and heard about the camp through them … They all have taught there at least once, and Carrie Brownstein is one of the assembly MCs at every camp. She also co-wrote the camp theme song. But that’s the simple story ... obviously, we learned that the camp was about so much more than just girls learning instruments. At one point, we even questioned if we should just back off and hope someday a woman might tell the story of the camp, but the importance of the story had gotten its hooks in us and we became very passionate about sharing with the world the story of the important work these women and girls were doing. We also found that as outsiders to girlhood, the interviews with the girls took on an interesting dynamic. Because we had so little understanding of their world, the girls were like tour guides for us and therefore for the audience.
I guess what I learned about myself along the way was that I really was pretty oblivious to the real lived experience of women and girls despite politically being a feminist and all that. It was really eye-opening doing those interviews.
KJK: One camper mom says the camp makes an effort to teach girls how to treat other girls. Was that something you saw as well?
AJ: Definitely ... I think the scene with Palace’s band is a great example of that. Instead of punishing Palace or assuming she was the problem, they met with all the girls and validated everyone’s feelings and came to some kind of resolution. We got the general sense that girls see conflict as catastrophic, and the camp really helps them to be okay with getting in fights and working it out ...
