Last summer, I missed the most daring music festival.

No, it wasn't Lolla.

Held in Washington, D.C., the Riot Grrrls united to hold a three-day convention. For those who don't know, Riot Grrrls are hardcore's answer to Betty Friedan. These Grrrls aren't like the scenesters or Joan Jett wannabes --they have genuine ideas about getting more women involved in the underground insurgence.

With bands such as Olympia, Wa.'s Bratmobile and Mecca Normal and Washington, D.C.'s Bikini Kill inspiring them, these Grrrls built a movement on the notion that women are more than equal.

Campaigning under the slogan: "Riot Grrrls are a fist in the face of society's preconceived notions about the female gender," they set out to bring women to the forefront of politics and punk.

This is clearly an indie thing. Corporate involvement would be like having mom host a Riot Grrrl Tupperware party -- they don't get it. Riot Grrrl sets out to give women a chance to be heard and more importantly, understood. Through seminars, fanzines like Riot Grrrl High School, Girl Germs and Wiglet, and women-only meetings, these women are able to get their message out.

Fortunately, missing the convention may have been a blessing. A couple of days after the convention, Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna told me the folks at USA Today hassled everyone for a story.

In her pack-a-day tone, Hanna complained that USA Today didn't have a right to report on the Grrrl movement.

I was a little hesitant to agree with her that the press had mistreated her until I actually saw what the McPaper wrote.

Starting off with the lead paragraph saying: "Better watch out boys," this mainstream rag described the Grrrls in a much different light than what I view.

"Teen Female Rebellion" informed the nation to watch out for these Riot Grrrls. Using pointed imagery, it painted a picture of women who creep along in the night, hunt white males down (like myself) and beat them senseless with their steel-toed Doc Martens.

USA Today told me they aren't like regular women.

They have hairy legs, unshaven pits, wear fishnet stockings and garter belts and are sexually ambiguous. When I talked to various Grrrls, I noticed these traits, but always looked past them.

I personally don't see why a type of dress or lifestyle is deserving of attention. When talking to Riot Grrrls, they are more than happy to detail their purpose and future goals. Style is never mentioned.

While writing about such vanities as hair color or shaving habits, the article missed the point. No one said every female had to look like Barbie and subscribe to Young Ms.

Despite USA Today's efforts to analyze the "abnormalities," the writer still tried desperately to mold them into a "normal" pig-tailed image. Describing them as "pen pals" with attitude, it implied this is some zippy cool trend --something all teen-agers would love to do such as babysit or eat from a Marky Mark lunchbox.

With their vast network of fanzines and annual conventions, it seems hardly a trend.

Instead of looking at the Riot Grrrl ideology and its feminist ideas toward the music industry specifically, the story tended to take the superficial route. Publications like Spin Magazine, who in an article in the spring, the L.A. Weekly, New Music Express, Melody Maker and Rolling Stone have also followed with limited impressions.

They made these Grrrls into cartoon characters void of creative thought.

Aside from the caricatures, NME, Melody Maker, and USA Today repeatedly suggested that these Grrrls were capable of violence toward any random white male. Maybe its from songs like Bikini Kill's "Suck My Left One," they got that idea, I don't know.

They should have gone beyond the rhetoric of song titles. Riot Grrrls are neither gun-toting feminazis nor out to get men. Music is simply a medium to express themselves.

Ironically after the convention and just before the USA Today story ran, Hanna asked me to write to her about my experience with Riot Grrrls, in hopes of finding out if the stereotype were real.

I didn't find Hanna the tormented punk she was made out to be, but a person with definite ideas on what women deserve. Maybe that's what scares the media --Riot Grrrls don't mince words.

While writing this column, Bratmobile's Allison Wolfe informed me that ABC News was flying to Olympia in hopes of interviewing her. She told me she was unsure whether to refuse the interview or to accept it on the pretenses of telling the reporter she plans on blowing up the country.

ABC news would probably only report that anyway.