Bikini Kill

The zine was created by Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail, and Kathi Wilcox, who were also members of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill formed in Olympia, Washington. The first issue was distributed around 1991, roughly coinciding with the band's formation and the broader emergence of the riot grrrl movement in the Pacific Northwest punk scene.

The original Bikini Kill zine ran for two issues in the early 1990s, photocopied and distributed by hand at punk shows, through mail order, and via independent music networks. These original issues are now extremely rare and considered important primary documents of the riot grrrl movement.

The zine is regarded as one of the foundational publications of the riot grrrl movement, which fused punk music with feminist activism, DIY publishing, and anti-violence organizing. Alongside other zines like Jigsaw and Girl Germs, it helped articulate the movement's core principles of female self-expression and resistance to patriarchal violence within the underground punk scene.

Original copies are extremely rare, but scanned reproductions are archived in riot grrrl and punk zine collections, including the Riot Grrrl Collection at NYU's Fales Library. Kathleen Hanna's personal papers and related materials have also been made accessible through academic and cultural archives dedicated to preserving 1990s feminist punk history.