Review

The Spitboy Rule: A Review—The Story of Feminism in 33 songs

The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band

by Kate Wadkins
Pitchfork
August 2016

“What Are Little Girls Made Of?”

(1995) When Spitboy penned the title of this sludgy, dissonant track, they turned a facile nursery rhyme on its head. Their answer to the question was unexpected: “I am what’s left over.”The first track on the San Francisco band’s split LP with the Latino punks Los Crudos, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” enumerated the Madonna/whore complex in a fresh, slightly frightening way. “I am pink, I am weak/I am red, I am whore,” singer Adrienne Droogas screamed, growing increasingly staccato. “Swaddled in red like a target/I am your sacrifice.”


Formed in 1990, Spitboy paved the way for women in hardcore as they railed against structural sexism. They toured extensively in their six years together, much of which is documented in drummer/ lyricist Michelle Cruz Gonzales’ excellent recent memoir, The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band.

Back to Michelle Cruz Gonzales’s Author Page