Who We Are:

Our manifesto, CTRL.Grrrls:// reimagines the Riot Grrrl movement for the digital age. Inspired by their DIY activism, we have updated these methods for our modern revolution, which, like theirs, is accessible to everyone. We crash the feed and resist the commodification of womanhood through online aesthetics, influencer culture, and corporate algorithms, overthrowing their control of digital culture just as the Riot Grrrls crashed the stages that silenced them. Presented through a Neocitites website with downloadable artwork, our manifesto encourages a collective protest across platforms, taking back online spaces that were once promised openness, creativity and free from systems of profit, control, and exploitation.

For decades, women have written manifestos about the lack of agency they have had in their own lives, identities, and bodies. Mona Loy's Feminist Manifesto (1914) rejected traditional views of femininity that held women to a certain standard. Over a hundred years later, despite cultural change, we are still seeing these same patterns repeat and evolve. Through digital spaces, we are seeing how far backwards we are going. It may seem that we have the power to make our own decisions, but as Angela McRobbie explains, feminism has been twisted by neoliberal culture to make us believe that everything depends on personal choice and independence, and that all systems have been fixed, leaving it up to us.

Our manifesto continues these legacies, merging feminist creativity with digital resistance. Empowerment is being rebranded as aesthetics such as, clean girls,' 'tradwives,' and 'coastal cowgirls.' They may seem harmless are seen as perfection and as something desirable, when in reality they romanticise a lack of control and dictate our choices, making us feel inferior and wrong if we don't follow. If we look deeper, we realise that these algorithm-driven trends reinforce whiteness, thinness, and submissive femininity. As Riordan (2001) explains, since the 1990s, 'girl power' culture, feminism has been commodified. From Doc Martens to concert tickets, what was once a message of empowerment became a marketing tool used to build a feminine identity that you buy into rather than create yourself, blurring the line between activism and advertising.

At the same time, women who embrace sexuality face backlash, just as they did over a century ago, revealing the many contradictions of digital feminism. 'Blue hair theory' and 'septum ring theory' show how women who reject these ideals are mocked as radical or undesirable. CTRL.Grrrls;// break these conformities, using art as a protest, using design and code as tools of exposure. (hostitllity towards women, ai deepfakes, proper danger and harm)

CTRL.Grrrls:// holds up a mirror to this system, helping people break free from structures that keep them hooked and unaware. Art and design are our weapons. Our work interrupts the endless scroll like a glitch in the feed, snapping people out of their trance to see what the system hides. When creative power shifts to individuals and collectives, culture becomes shared rather than sold.

CTRL.Grrrls:// manifesto format has been both artistic and an act of protest itself. We have presented our words through a Neocities website, which reflects the early stages of the internet, through DIY coding and glitch visuals. The site itself is a community where people can be creative and share their own projects and interests, which is what we hope the entire digital space can become. Our downloadable posters were inspired by the collage zine style of the original Riot Grrrls but have been reimagined for a digital age where they can be shared across numerous platforms in different sizes and file formats, and can also be easily printed and shared in real life. VNS Matrix's Cyberfeminist Manifesto for the 21st Century (1991) inspired this approach, which merged art, feminism and technology to reclaim space and identity on the internet. Our site and posters are performative acts that create a revolution.

Our revolution demands a feminist digital commons built on inclusivity and ethics. Gender expectations harm everyone, and we call for creativity to replace conformity. Art-based activism becomes the foundation of collective power, transforming digital culture from a space of toxicity and conformity into a space of collective action.

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