Punk Persistence: Subversive Change and Continued Resistance in Celia C. Pérez’s The First Rule of Punk

In a now-viral video, the half Asian/half Latinx band the Linda Lindas took the Internet by storm with their anthem “Racist, Sexist Boy” (“The Linda Lindas”). Anastasia Tsioulcas of NPR called the song “something of a 2021 anthem,” cementing the Linda Lindas’ place as a rising star in the punk world .The Internet’s fascination with the Linda Lindas didn’t just stem from the exigency of their hit song, the band is also composed of tweens and teens – and diverse teens at that. The band’s members are “Half Asian and half Latinx,” according to their website, and range in ages from eleven to seventeen (“About”). Though punk has always been a genre filled with young people, the extreme youth of this particular band stands out – and, while it’s not explicitly stated, their racial and ethnic identities add to audiences’ fascination and exoticization of the band. In a Vogue magazine article about their music and activism, journalist Christian Allaire notes, “Despite being young teens, their music has a clear, strong voice and punchy lyrics that prove they’re wise beyond their years.” Many reactions to the Linda Lindas follow this same pattern: shock at the band members’ ages and at the sophistication of their activist messages. The Linda Lindas’ work is at odds with adults’ views of children as apolitical subjects who need protection. Somehow, many adults perceive that young people are the ones benefiting from activism, not necessarily the ones instigating activism, even as punk is a genre rooted in youth resistance. I begin with this nod to the Linda Lindas and their punk aesthetic to foreground the similar activist entanglements in Celia C. Pérez’s middle grade novel The First Rule of Punk (2017). The Linda Lindas sing about their disenfranchisement as young, minoritized punks. So, too, does Malú, Pérez’s protagonist, sing against norms that seek to shape her to fit within dominant social scripts. The novel follows Malú, a 12 year-old punk, who